ArmCare.com

The world's first arm health assessment, training and monitoring platform for baseball players and coaches

[ArmCare.com @ArmCarecom]

The Truth About Pitch Counts: Are You Risking Your Arm?

Traditional pitch counts are outdated. They treat every player the same—ignoring players arm strength, fatiguability and how well they recover. That’s a recipe for injury.

Individualized Pitch Counts change the game. Instead of guessing, we use real data to set daily limits based on your arm’s condition. Strength, fatigue, recovery—it all matters.

Learn more 👇

[Phillip Burleigh @thereallsu777]

If you see this & want to know how to train

For lifting- @ZacGoodman_
For throwing- @The_BPCsj basic velocity program
For arm care- @ArmCarecom
For nutrition- @foutsjeremy
For bat speed and med ball throws- @billmills

[ArmCare.com @ArmCarecom]

💯 agree

[Preston Benedict @pBenny7]

Arm speed is arm stress. The velocity that continues to trend upward is a massive reason the injuries continue to grow, but with any stressful action, there are ways you can shield & disperse stress away from stabilizing tissues.

It’s hard to change the tire on a moving vehicle though, so often times managing throwing workloads to coincide with proper training techniques in the weight room are what’s necessary to build up the arm strength necessary to stress shield.

Asking an athlete to go through countless rotator cuff, posterior shoulder, serratus anterior, flexor pronator work, etc as part of a solid “arm care” routine, yet not considering the accumulative stress done by throwing workloads is asking the athlete to train WITH fatigue rather than away from it. This will only lead to further injury. The guys at ArmCare have this absolutely right. I don’t see how anyone programs without the information they can provide.

#OneArmOneCareer #StrengthMattersMost

[ArmCare.com @ArmCarecom]

@SliderDominate @shegone03 @hoy_cooke @notgaetti @BobFile @billdubs @iamrags @artofhitting Our guidelines recommend that kids shouldn’t pitch against live batters until age 10.

[ArmCare.com @ArmCarecom]

https://t.co/CdmJ0j5uAk

100 mph is no longer rare. Unfortunately, arm injuries aren’t either.

After watching this outstanding video by Joon Lee and Adam Ottavino on the rise of 100 mph pitchers, the message felt clear: velocity keeps climbing, injuries keep climbing...and there may be no real solution to the arm injury epidemic.

I disagree. The solution is here. The challenge is having the discipline to listen.

Here’s what makes this so difficult...ArmCare tests a pitcher’s arm before they throw and compares that data to their normal baseline.

If arm strength is down 8+ lbs, if fatigue is showing up, if imbalances show up, if recovery is off...the app doesn’t just show the data. It flags it and may tell that pitcher: do not pitch today.

And I get it...it’s a big game. Your ace is on the mound. You run the test, see the alert, question it, test again...same result. The arm is fatigued.

Now the coach has a decision to make. Listen to the arm...or roll the dice.

Research has shown pitching while fatigued is the #1 risk factor for injury, making a pitcher 36x more likely to get hurt...not 36%, 36 times.

That’s the uncomfortable truth. Most major arm injuries aren’t coming out of nowhere. The warning signs were there. The data was there. The arm was talking.

And here’s what’s often missed...fatigued arms usually don’t perform their best anyway. Command is often the first thing to go. More missed spots. More stressful pitches. More fatigue. More risk.

The hardest part in baseball isn’t collecting the data. It’s having the courage to trust it when the game is on the line.

[ArmCare.com @ArmCarecom]

@chriskilroy @shegone03 @MagnoliaToomer @UnfetteredDad Which is exactly why youth throwing workloads, recovery, fatigue, and long-term development need to be taken seriously. The entire point of our post was advocating for more conservative management of high-stress youth throwers, not pushing kids to throw harder.

[ArmCare.com @ArmCarecom]

We actually agree with much of what’s being said here. @shegone03 @MagnoliaToomer @UnfetteredDad

8-year-olds should be having fun, learning the game, and not chasing velocity.

This post from our Instagram got some hate after being reposted by @shegone03 on X without the full context.

To be clear, we never said these were “benchmarks” kids need to chase.

The point of the post was actually the opposite.

The data comes from a 2009 paper by Axe et al. focused on protecting young throwing arms. The authors specifically noted that young athletes throwing significantly harder and farther than their peers may require more conservative workload management because of the increased stress placed on growing tissues.

In other words:

Higher velocity = higher stress = greater need for monitoring, recovery, strength, and smart workload management.

Please read the original post on our Instagram before drawing conclusions.

And we’ll say it again...

“The goal isn’t to be the hardest thrower at 10 years old...it’s to still be throwing hard 10 years later.”

[ArmCare.com @ArmCarecom]

@AnnoyedSoFLGuy @shegone03 @MagnoliaToomer @UnfetteredDad You’d be surprised. A lot of youth baseball culture still treats the hardest thrower as the kid who should also throw the most. The point of the study was to quantify that risk and recommend more conservative management for those athletes.

[ArmCare.com @ArmCarecom]

@PsiDepDrOrtiz @shegone03 @notgaetti @BobFile @billdubs @iamrags @artofhitting We are the science community...and the context of our post was that players who throw hard need fewer pitches and more recovery.

[ArmCare.com @ArmCarecom]

@AnnoyedSoFLGuy @shegone03 @MagnoliaToomer @UnfetteredDad No, a radar gun isn’t required. The study also provided long toss distances that correlated with velocity. Our actual message is that unusually hard-throwing kids require careful monitoring, not that parents should start chasing radar numbers at 8 years old.

[ArmCare.com @ArmCarecom]

@USAHungarian @shegone03 @notgaetti @BobFile @billdubs @iamrags @artofhitting Completely agree. Early velocity doesn’t guarantee future success, and late developers catch up all the time. Great story on the deeper meaning of sports!

[ArmCare.com @ArmCarecom]

@dblackpiano @shegone03 @notgaetti @BobFile @billdubs @iamrags @artofhitting Actually, we provide a ton of FREE education around helping keep young athletes safe. The entire point of the post was that unusually hard-throwing kids may need more protection, not more pressure.

https://t.co/Yse7me3fwL

[ArmCare.com @ArmCarecom]

For the record, we never said anything about “chasing velo.” What we said is that throwing unusually hard at a young age presents higher stress and, therefore, may require more careful management.

You’re absolutely right that youth performance does not predict future pro success. Most kids won’t play professionally, and youth baseball should absolutely still be fun.

But for the athletes who are throwing exceptionally hard, coaches and parents need tools and education to help manage workload, recovery, and long-term development responsibly.

[ArmCare.com @ArmCarecom]

Managing a 10-year-old arm means rest, proper recovery, appropriate development, and keeping throwing workloads under control. We’d completely agree that teaching them how to throw and recovery matter.

Most ArmCare users are high school, college, and professional athletes…but the same concepts around fatigue and workload management can absolutely apply to youth athletes, especially highly motivated players and those at a greater risk of injury.

[ArmCare.com @ArmCarecom]

@JonWilliams79 @shegone03 @notgaetti @BobFile @billdubs @iamrags @artofhitting I encourage you to actually read our post...

https://t.co/q3cVlbOkGx

[ArmCare.com @ArmCarecom]

@Kevinpro33 @shegone03 @notgaetti @BobFile @billdubs @iamrags @artofhitting If you’re referring to https://t.co/zclrp2REJP, our entire goal is the opposite. There’s probably no better solution for identifying fatigue, managing workload, and helping reduce throwing injuries before surgery ever becomes part of the conversation.

[ArmCare.com @ArmCarecom]

@RyanDaysBeard @shegone03 @notgaetti @BobFile @billdubs @iamrags @artofhitting For sure, that could lead to burnout if not managed appropriately... basically what we said in our post.

[ArmCare.com @ArmCarecom]

What are you tearing apart? We totally agree that the priority at 8 years old should be loving the game, developing athleticism, and learning how to play baseball.

Our post referenced research showing that some kids naturally throw much harder than their peers and often get overused because they’re the best player on the team. The point was that those athletes should probably throw less, not more, because of the increased stress placed on their arm.

The point of the post was never to "chase velo" despite being framed like that.

[ArmCare.com @ArmCarecom]

@marv_jones6 @shegone03 @notgaetti @BobFile @billdubs @iamrags @artofhitting I think the general outrage is mainly due to rage baiting and providing zero context to the purpose of the actual post.

[ArmCare.com @ArmCarecom]

@643DPMT @shegone03 @notgaetti @BobFile @billdubs @iamrags @artofhitting Haha…negative. I’m a sports scientist named Matt. Feel free to call me on Monday and I’d be happy to help you understand what we do: 720-251-2927

[ArmCare.com @ArmCarecom]

Generally speaking, things like fewer pitches than their peers, more time off between pitching, avoiding year-round competition, closely monitoring fatigue, not moving to catcher or short after pitching, etc. And for players who use our app, not pitching when fatigue recovery alerts are present.

As for how well it’s followed…not even close to what it should be. The best player on the team is often the one coaches are most tempted to overuse.