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Sam Morris / Las Vegas Sun
Griffin Haddrill pitches during a Peccole Little League game Wednesday, April 21, 2010.
Monday, April 26, 2010 | 2 a.m.
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Beyond the Sun
On Saturdays, 12-year-old Justin Rasavage wakes up, grabs his navy blue Yankees ball cap and heads to the baseball diamond to join his team for an afternoon Little League game.
On Sundays, Justin grabs the orange and blue cap of his club team, the Las Vegas Warriors, for more baseball action.
For youngsters such as Justin, youth baseball in Las Vegas involves a delicate balance of playing on two teams — a recreational Little League squad for three months each spring, and a more competitive club team that competes year-round.
And for pitchers, the challenge of juggling game and practice schedules also involves math: The number of pitches they throw in a game or over a week can lead to arm troubles that may dog an aspiring ballplayer for years — and even derail hopes of serious play.
In 2006, Little League implemented a pitch count, limiting the number of pitches a player can throw each game and dictating a required amount of rest between outings. The pitches are only counted in Little League games.
So those guidelines can easily be busted by children playing in Little League and club teams each week, and in some instances each day, if coaches and parents don’t keep careful count and share that information.
The Little League pitch count for someone in Justin’s Majors Division, for children primarily ages 11 and 12, is 85 pitches per game with four calendar days of rest before pitching again.
But with no official monitoring process between leagues, overthrowing is a real possibility unless coaches and parents stay on top of it.
Justin’s Little League coach, Glen Stevens, does just that. On a recent afternoon, Stevens wanted to pencil Justin in as the starting pitcher, but first called his family to make sure the seventh-grader hadn’t thrown the previous night in a club game.
“You really have to rely on your coach or manager having the good judgment to put the kids’ health before the desire to win,” said Stevens, who is president of the Peccole league. “There will obviously always be an opportunity for a bad decision to be made. There is really no way to police this except for the parents and coaches to monitor the situation.”
Justin Rasavage shows off his four pitches, from left, two-seam fastball, four-seam fastball, change up and curve.
But the fervor of competition can trump caution. Some coaches are so consumed with winning — the ultimate destination for Little League players in Justin’s age group is a trip to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. — that they are willing to expose the pitcher to injury, Stevens said.
“It’s a slippery slope with club ball and Little League,” said Ron Sufana, who coaches the Las Vegas Bulldogs 11-and-under club team and heads the American Legion affiliate at Green Valley High.
“As a parent, you have to have a limit and stick to it. Some people are all about winning, and that is fine. But most of us are out here for the kids and to give them the proper avenue to enjoy the game. You can’t enjoy it with an injured arm.”
Robert Braden, a Las Vegas-area chiropractor who specializes in pitcher arm injuries, said he treats one patient who is 10 years old.
“It is getting ridiculous,” said Braden, who started working with pitchers more than a decade ago with the Las Vegas triple-A affiliate. “You should see the look and attitude I get from some coaches when I mention shutting a kid down.”
Braden is a firm believer in giving players such as Justin a two-month break each year, and using the downtime to work on arm-strength exercises. Elbow soreness is most frequent with younger ballplayers, while high school athletes usually have shoulder problems once that part of the arm develops, he said.
He argues that a 12-year-old should only throw 100 pitches a week, 1,000 per season and 3,000 per year. After that, they run the risk of surgery, a shortened career and being burned out, he said.
“It’s a volume issue. It’s not just in Vegas, but all areas of the country,” Braden said. “This has turned into a 12-month sport. When I was in high school, we would play football, basketball and then baseball. It’s become a volume issue of overthrowing.”
You can’t blame the children for wanting to play.
Justin Rasavage warms up during a Peccole Little League game Wednesday, April 21, 2010.
Justin is a typical child who is passionate about baseball. If it were his decision, he would play around the clock. He dreams of making the big leagues and playing for his favorite team, the St. Louis Cardinals.
“I throw as many pitches as I can until my arm gets sore or I start walking batters,” Justin said.
Nick Rasavage, Justin’s dad, is like most parents who race around town making sure his children get to the right event. The phone call from Stevens was comforting to a father who wants the best for his son.
“Most parents won’t let their kids throw two games in a row, and the coaches all know that,” Rasavage said. “But some coaches are out to win, especially in these tournaments. They will tell the kids not to throw in Little League games.
“It is your child and your responsibility to make sure your child doesn’t get hurt.”
Mike Martin has been instructing youth baseball players for nearly three decades at his Las Vegas Baseball Academy. It hosts a 22-team spring club league where Martin said he often witnesses pitchers being overworked.
Even before studies found the detriment of a young arm being overused, Martin said he had his pitchers follow a strict schedule.
“People who have played the game of baseball understand workloads and why it is important to limit how much a kid throws,” Martin said. “You hear it all the time of a kid throwing on Friday and coming back to throw on Saturday. Shame on the parents for allowing this to happen. Shame on them for witnessing both ends of what coaches are doing.”
Here is the key comment below
**the fervor of competition can trump caution. Some coaches are so consumed with winning -- the ultimate destination for Little League players in Justin's age group is a trip to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. -- that they are willing to expose the pitcher to injury, Stevens said.**
PARENTS AND COACHES - quit trying to live in your child's shoes. Your playing days are OVER, OVER, OVER!!! Its about the kids and not you! Let the kids play and have fun and remember that you dont earn college scholorships or get drafted straight out of little league.
It makes me sick to my stomach when i watch kids play little league games and you have to hear the blood curdling screams from parents at little Johnny to do this or that. I used to be one of those kids and i tuned out the parents. hey Parents, step in the batters box and let me pitch to you and see if i dont make your heart skip a beat or two. Now imagine your yound child and how they feel.
Encouragement is the name of the game. Be there to support and if you cant say anything nice, zip it. The person like Mr. Stevens is dead on here. You cant risk bodily injuries this young in life. They will live with it forever! Is that what you want?
Unfortunatley little leaguers are all seeing today Bryce Harper and saying hey, i can go skip high school and head off to the big leagues before i get a drivers license. Harper is truly a one in a million kid. Is it right what is being done? Probably not, but here is a super athlete who is very smart and has the parental support to make his decision possible. But he is in no way the norm.
So again, be there for support and quit trying to rush them to the major leagues by age 11.
nice article!! well done.
Pitch count is less of a concern than pitching mechanics. I've seen plenty of kids with horrible mechanics that shouldn't even throw ONE pitch, much less whatever the limit is for their age. On the other hand, I've seen strong kids with flawless delivery that could throw beyond the pitch count.
Little League enacted the pitch count because some managers, coaches and parents were running players into the ground. Unfortunately, as noted in the article, there's no way to prevent that from happening unless the parents of the player are willing to monitor the situation.
It was only this year that LLB decided NOT to allow players to move from catcher to pitcher in a game. In prior seasons it was allowed so there were already flaws with the rule to begin with.
If your player is a pitcher, do everyone a favor and get him / her some professional pitching instruction. That will save more arms from injury than overuse causes.
Nevada has NEVER won a little league world series title. Let alone - Nevada can not seem to even make the big dance.
The last time Nevada had a chance, I am watching a bunch of kids talk about the fact that they had played over 100 games, including a game in Cooperstown, New York.
Words coming to mind when watching this was:
Cocky bunch of 12 year olds.
How do their parents afford all of this.
How is it that their arms wont be falling off by high school?
This Hawaii team that they are playing seem to be playing for the love of the game, unlike the business mentality shown by the Nevada kids.
Well - Hawaii beat them and went on to win the Little League World Series.
I see so many teams playing in leagues that no one except the hard core seems to even know. Nevada has poor success on the Little League level maybe due to the fact that these kids are playing too many games at the age of 10, 11 and 12.
I have seen 12 year old kids give up on soccer and other sports, because baseball coaches tell these kids that they wont make their high school team unless they play all of the time.
How many of these "all stars" are being drafted or being offered scholarships? Not as many as being told that they better play baseball year round.
The days of 3 sport athletes are being destroyed by this demand to play a single sport all year round. Not saying that this same demand is also not be put upon kids playing soccer or basketball either. I find it interesting how few passing QB's Las Vegas has, because anyone with an arm is being told to play baseball only and not football. Joe Mauer and Toby Gerhart can play multiple sports in High School, Gerhart even in College - yet if they were in Nevada we would never see it.
Lets see Nevada actually make a Little League World Series.
Lets see how many more kids are being drafted and get college scholarships against the same results 5 years ago?
People wonder why you dont see more minorities playing baseball. How many can afford to go to New York to play a game or even play a 100 game year of baseball? I am sure that the number is large. Add up the costs of equipment, personalized training, batting practice, uniforms and travel - how can kids afford all of this.
Are the results of getting a scholarship or being drafted worth having a elementary school kid blow out their arm? So far the success stories have not grown to this level and yet this monster of playing a single sport all year round continues to grow and get worse.
Umm, Vegas has produced many a star athlete over the years. Greg Maddux ring a bell?
I love the game, but I subscribe to the school of the three-sport athlete.
Also, I played just two seasons of LLB (the first being minors @ 10 yrs old). Ended up becoming an all-conference baseball player here in Vegas and went on to play college and semi-pro ball.
In my opinion, club ball is overkill. Period.