Pitching in between starts and other advice

[Rafael2142]

Ok coaches,

I have a question, I coach a U12 team and my stepson is a pitcher on it. My question is how much pitching should he do in between starts? Right now we are playing in about 2 games a week. I try to keep his pitch count down to about 65-70 pitches a game, and i try to not have any of my pitchers throw back to back games. ihave about 6 guys that can throw, and about 3 that can actually pitch and pitch well.

My other question is about another pitcher on the team, he has good velocity and can spot the ball well, but he seems to tire out rather quickly(like 3rd inning), what should i suggest he do outside of practice to help build his stamina? I know he plays a lot of basketball after school, but i dont know if that is sapping his energy.

Any advice would be helpful. Thanks alot!

[Roger]

Given the number of pitchers you have and that you play 2 games a week, I'm going to assume that no pitcher pitches in more than 1 game a week. Based on that assumption, I would have your pitchers throw one bullpen (30-40 pitches) each week with 2-3 days rest after games and 2 days rest before games. Pitchers that have really low pitch counts from games might throw two short bullpens (25 pitches) per week with 2 days rest after games and a day of rest before games.

Note that pitchers should do some throwing on their days of rest but no pitching. The day after pitching in a game, the throwing should consist of only some light catch. On other days of rest, some catch as well as some long toss is good.

[Rafael2142]

Thank you for the advice.

You are right, i try to not have my pitchers pitch in 2 games unless they do one inning in relief.

We've only played two games so far this season so i havent run into any problems.

Now what would u suggest about the other player that seems to tire out quickly on the mound? Last night for instance he threw 35 pitches last night in 3 innings, and that 3rd inning he couldnt buy a strike. the lack of stamina i think affected his mechanics whick led to his failure to throw strikes. Conditioning issue i think? What do you think? I know its hard to judge having not seen him.

[Roger]

First, let me say that as a coach you need to pull a kid off the mound once you notice he is fatigued to the point his mechanics are starting to deteriorate. Pitching while fatigued is a recognized cause of injury.

As for the kid who lacks stamina, I'd say lots of long toss would be a good way to build stamina.

[Rafael2142]

Thats exactly what i did last night, as soon as i noticed a change i pulled him for the game

[Roger]

Excellent. I'll guess he probably didn't think he should get pulled. You just need to explain that he was pulled due to being fatigued and altering his mechanics. Explain to him that if he wants to go deeper into the game, he needs to build up his stamina and/or he needs to learn how to get batters out with fewer pitches.