5 Reasons High School Pitchers Are Getting Injured More Than Ever

What's destroying young pitchers' arms across America? The answer might be right there on the radar gun. 

In this eye-opening episode, Coach Ken Carpenter tackles the alarming rise in serious arm injuries among youth and high school pitchers. Drawing from conversations with experts like Dr. Tom House and his own 27 years of coaching experience, Ken explores how the relentless pursuit of velocity—"chasing 90"—combined with year-round pitching schedules and early sport specialization is creating an epidemic of torn UCLs and Tommy John surgeries in teenagers.

Remember when kids threw footballs, rocks, and wiffle balls in the backyard? When baseball ended in summer, making way for football and basketball seasons? That natural athletic versatility created what Dr. House calls "neuroplasticity"—more neural pathways between brain and muscles that developed more complete, durable athletes. Today's young pitchers are missing that foundation, instead throwing max effort at showcases year-round without adequate rest or varied movement patterns.

The statistics are sobering: over 50% of Tommy John surgeries now happen to teenagers. As Coach Carpenter's pitching coach once said, "there's only so many bullets available to a pitcher," and today's young athletes are using them up before college. This episode challenges coaches, parents and players to reconsider their priorities: developing pitchers who can locate, change speeds, and maintain durability rather than just lighting up radar guns. After all, what good is throwing 90 mph in high school if your arm breaks down at 19?

Want to share your coaching perspective or story? Visit athlete1.net to request to be a guest on Baseball Coaches Unplugged and join the conversation about protecting young arms and the future of baseball.

Join the Baseball Coaches Unplugged podcast where an experienced baseball coach delves into the world of high school and travel baseball, offering insights on high school baseball coaching, leadership skills, hitting skills, pitching strategy, defensive skills, and overall baseball strategy, while also covering high school and college baseball, recruiting tips, youth and travel baseball, and fostering a winning mentality and attitude in baseball players through strong baseball leadership and mentality.

Chapters

• 0:01 Would You Rather: Velocity vs Control
• 2:44 The Arm Injury Epidemic
• 3:50 Pitching Too Much, Throwing Too Little
• 5:28 Today's Players vs Yesterday's Athletes
• 7:52 Building Foundations That Last
• 9:12 Episode Wrap and Call to Action

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

ask any coach, at any level would you rather have a pitcher that throws 90 miles an hour but you're not sure if he's going to be consistent and throw strikes? Or would you rather have a pitcher that throws in the 80s, gets out, throw strikes, mixes up speeds and changes locations, chasing 90 and why? I think it's possibly hurting the game of baseball? Next on Baseball Coaches Unplugged.

Speaker 2: 0:34

Welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged with Coach Ken Carpenter, presented by AthleteOne. Baseball Coaches Unplugged is a podcast for baseball coaches With 27 years of high school baseball coaching under his belt, here to bring you the inside scoop on all things baseball, from game winning strategies and pitching secrets to hitting drills and defensive drills. We're covering it all. Whether you're a high school coach, college coach or just a baseball enthusiast, we'll dive into the tactics and techniques that make the difference on and off the field. Discover how to build a winning mentality. Inspire your players and get them truly bought into your game philosophy Plus, get the latest insights on recruiting, coaching, leadership and crafting a team culture that champions productivity and success. Join coach every week as he breaks down the game and shares incredible behind the scenes stories. Your competitive edge starts here, so check out the show weekly and hear from the best coaches in the game. On Baseball Coaches Unplugged.

Speaker 1: 1:33

Today's episode of Baseball Coaches Unplugged is powered by the Netting Professionals, improving programs one facility at a time. The Netting Pros specialize in the design, fabrication and installation of custom netting for baseball and softball. This includes backstops, batting cages, bp turtles, screens, ball carts and more. They also design and install digital graphic wall padding, windscreen, turf, turf protectors, dugout benches and cubbies. The netting pros also work with football, soccer, lacrosse, golf courses and now pickleball. Contact them today at 844-620-2707. That's 844-620-2707. Or visit them online at wwwnettingproscom. Check out Netting Pros on X, instagram, facebook and LinkedIn for all their latest products and projects. If you enjoyed today's show, don't forget to hit the subscribe button, rate the show and leave us a review. Also, don't forget to follow us on X, instagram and Facebook at AthleteOnePodcast. Hello and welcome back to Baseball Coaches Unplugged. I'm your host, coach Ken Carpenter.

Speaker 1: 2:51

Today I'm going to talk about something that's become way too common and way too accepted in the world of youth and high school baseball arm injuries, not just the occasional sore shoulder, but the serious breakdowns, torn UCLs, tommy John surgeries, kids who were 15, 16, 17 years old high school players. And why is this happening? Simple, they're chasing 90, pitching year-round without significant breaks and playing one sport only and that's baseball. I was recently reading a great piece that featured some wisdom from Dr Tom House, former big league pitching coach, researcher, performance psychologist, and the one thing he said that really stuck with me our kids today are pitching too much and not throwing enough. Let that sink in Not throwing enough. Let that sink in Not throwing enough. We've got kids pitching off a mound year round, using the exact same motion over and over again. They're specializing in baseball. Earlier and earlier. They're chasing velocity like it's a badge of honor. And if they're doing it all without taking the time to let their arms and brains rest. I had Chris Jones who was my pitching coach and he pitched for Ohio State University and he made it as high as AAA with the Dodgers and he always told me there's only so many bullets available to a pitcher and this really sinks in. Some of you listening might remember this, especially the older guys.

Speaker 1: 4:46

When we were kids we would throw all the time, but we didn't just throw baseballs. We threw footballs, rocks, tennis balls, wiffle balls. We made up games in the backyard, we threw from different arm angles on different surfaces in every kind of weather, and you know what else we did. We stopped playing baseball when the summer ended. Once fall hit, we moved on to football. Winter it was basketball or wrestling. We weren't playing 70-game fall schedules or flying across the country every other weekend to showcase our arms. Our bodies and our arms had a chance to rest and, more importantly, they had a chance to develop. Now contrast that with what we're seeing today. 've got a 14 year old kid on a travel team that never takes a break. He's throwing max effort in every showcase, chasing 85 on a radar gun because he thinks that's going to be his ticket to college baseball. He's doing weighted ball programs without supervision. He's pitching in February, then in June and then again in October, and we wonder why the injuries are skyrocketing. Tom House talks about something called neuroplasticity that idea that the playing other sports actually trains the brain and the body to be better and more adaptable athletes. He says the more nerves you have talking to muscles on the shelves that you can call on in your brain, the longer and better athlete you're going to be. That's why guys like Tom Glavin, who played both hockey and baseball, had such a long successful career. He built more complete athletic foundation and it showed the guy won over 300 games in the big leagues, and he never needed to throw 98 miles an hour to do it. Look, I get it. Velocity is sexy, and how are you going to go from high school to college if you're not throwing high 80s to low 90s? It's tough to get on a college roster. But what good is 90 miles per hour in high school If the arm breaks down at 19,? More than 50% of Tommy John surgeries are happening to teenagers, and if you live in the South, where the weather is warm for the most part of the year, your chances are increasing because you're getting out there and you're pitching, because baseball's a warm weather sport. We need to start asking ourselves what's the long game? Do we want our players to peak at 17, or do we want to give them a foundation that lasts through high school and college and maybe even to the next level? That foundation includes rest. It includes playing other sports. It includes letting kids be athletes, not just pitchers, and as coaches, you've got to lead the charge. That means managing pitch counts, yes, but also managing seasons giving guys time off from throwing, creating off-se seasons that are truly about strength, movement and flexibility, not maxing out pull downs in a hoodie. It means teaching young players how to compete without always chasing velocity. Can you locate your pitches, can you change speeds? Can you pitch deep into the games? Because you're built with durability and not just power Got to be able to throw strikes. I'll leave you with one last thought from Tom House. Mix it up the guys who made it House, glavin and so many others. They didn't get there by throwing the same pitch the same way all year long. They got there by being creative, adaptable and athletic. Let's raise a generation of pitchers who aren't just throwing harder but throwing smarter. Let's protect their arms, their futures and the games that we all love. Thanks for tuning in to Baseball Coaches Unplugged. If this episode hits home for you, or if you're a coach and you've got a story, check out our website at athlete1.net that's athlete, the number one dot net and request to be a guest. I'd love to hear your take on the game of baseball. Until next time, take care of your players and take care of the game. Baseball Coaches Unplugged is proud to be partnered with the netting professionals, improving programs one facility at a time. Contact them today at 844-620-2707 or visit them online at wwwnettingproscom. As always, I'm your host, coach Ken Carpenter, and thanks for listening to Baseball Coaches Unplugged.