Need some general advice please?

General Pitching Topics
#1

Hello!
I’m Joe, and I live in England. I’m 15, and I’m having trouble pitching.

Living in England, no one plays baseball, so i’ve been practicing by either pitching at a fence or pitching a foam ball in my back-garden. I’ve only been playing baseball a few weeks, and I’ve been pitching about a week, but I’ve developed a soreness in my upper-arm/bicep. I’ve been told by just-about-the-only-baseball-player-in-England that I’m very good, especially considering I’ve only been playing a short while. I can throw a 4-seam quite quick, and reasonably accurately, but after a while my arm starts to ache. Before now I haven’t really enjoyed sports, so it might just be that I’m getting used to it. Is it normal to expect aching after a few days pitching?

Also, another quick question. The only gloves available in England come from the baseballandsoftball.com shop, and that pretty much entails the Rawlings revo 350 and Rawlings gold glove. Is the gold glove worth the extra £30?

Thanks in advance,
Joe

#2

Also, I have no idea what all the baseballl speech means. What’s a 1-1? A K? Could someone tell me what all the basic speech means?

Btw, I broke in a wilson glove in 3 days, if that indcates how much I’ve been playing.

#3

Greetings from the other side of the ocean!
First. an explanation of some of the baseball terminology you’ve encountered. 1-1 means “one ball, one strike” in BB shorthand you see on the scoreboard and your neighbor’s scorecard: four balls, a batter takes a walk to first base. Three strikes, he goes back to the dugout grumbling and grousing because he’s out. So a count of 1-1 means the batter gets another shot at hitting the ball—or not.
“K”, simply enough, is a strikeout—when the batter swings and misses, the “K” is shown in the ordinary way; if it’s a called third strike the “K” is shown backwards. And then there’s the intentional base on balls, noted on the scorecard as IBB. There are many more such shorthand indications:SB for stolen base, SAC for sacrifice fly, DP (with the requisite numbers, depending on who executed it) for double play…You might do well to try getting your hands on a book of baseball shorthand, which should help.
As for the arm problem—the best thing you can do is work on building up your arm strength, because that is the first thing a pitcher needs to do. A couple of days’ rest should help, but if it doesn’t, see a doctor as soon as possible and get it checked out. And once again, welcome aboard!

#4

Welcome!

Sounds like your arm soreness could be due simply to the amount of throwing you’ve been doing and the possible lack of strength and conditioning. Rest may certainly be in order.

Once the soreness subsides, throw daily but pitch only once or twice a week. If the soreness returns, consider reducing the amount of pitching. Also consider having your mechanics evaluated (you can post video of yourself in the Mechanics forum on this site).

#5

Thanks everyone, I’m loving baseball and I’m looking forward to the day I’m good enough to pitch for strikes.

Joe

#6

[quote=“British Pitcher”]Hello!
I’m Joe, and I live in England. I’m 15, and I’m having trouble pitching.

Living in England, no one plays baseball, so i’ve been practicing by either pitching at a fence or pitching a foam ball in my back-garden. I’ve only been playing baseball a few weeks, and I’ve been pitching about a week, but I’ve developed a soreness in my upper-arm/bicep. I’ve been told by just-about-the-only-baseball-player-in-England that I’m very good, especially considering I’ve only been playing a short while. I can throw a 4-seam quite quick, and reasonably accurately, but after a while my arm starts to ache. Before now I haven’t really enjoyed sports, so it might just be that I’m getting used to it. Is it normal to expect aching after a few days pitching?

Also, another quick question. The only gloves available in England come from the baseballandsoftball.com shop, and that pretty much entails the Rawlings revo 350 and Rawlings gold glove. Is the gold glove worth the extra £30?

Thanks in advance,
Joe[/quote]

  It sounds like you're sore because you don't pitch very often. Put some ice on your arm. If you pitch every day and work out your triceps it should go away in a little bit.
#7

[quote=“British Pitcher”]Hello!
I’m Joe, and I live in England. I’m 15, and I’m having trouble pitching.

Living in England, no one plays baseball, so i’ve been practicing by either pitching at a fence or pitching a foam ball in my back-garden. I’ve only been playing baseball a few weeks, and I’ve been pitching about a week, but I’ve developed a soreness in my upper-arm/bicep. I’ve been told by just-about-the-only-baseball-player-in-England that I’m very good, especially considering I’ve only been playing a short while. I can throw a 4-seam quite quick, and reasonably accurately, but after a while my arm starts to ache. Before now I haven’t really enjoyed sports, so it might just be that I’m getting used to it. Is it normal to expect aching after a few days pitching?

Also, another quick question. The only gloves available in England come from the baseballandsoftball.com shop, and that pretty much entails the Rawlings revo 350 and Rawlings gold glove. Is the gold glove worth the extra £30?

Thanks in advance,
Joe[/quote]

  It sounds like you're sore because you don't pitch very often. Put some ice on your arm. If you pitch every day and work out your triceps it should go away in a little bit.
#8

Although this comment is late, I am also learning about all the rules and abbreviations in baseball. It’s really interesting :innocent:

#9

A perfectly executed stolen base can spur a team to win in that small amount of time. However, the risks of base-stealing versus its benefits might make me think twice before adopting this strategy.