Youth/Amateur Baseball: Are Curveballs Bad to Teach at a Young Age?
"In my experience, most of the good curveball pitchers have started young." - Bob Shaw
There has been a belief that has been handed down from generations in the realm of youth baseball that it is unhealthy for a young pitcher to learn a curveball before the age of fourteen. This was told to me and many others at a young age. Could we have benefitted from a curveball, most likely. For some athletes this could be the reason why they struggle with learning a curveball. It was simply too late to learn a fantastic curveball.
Now you may be asking what about the data? In 2011, Dr. Glen Fleisig studied the issue with the curveball with fellow colleagues. Fleisig and others tracked the progress of 481 youth pitchers for a decade. The research found no relationship with throwing a curveball before the age of 13 and having major arm issues afterward. What research did find was pitching too much without a resting period for the arm caused major arm issues. Fleisig and others found that the curveball and fastball exerted similar amounts of stress on shoulders and elbows. The curveball exerted 5 to 10 percent less stress than the fastball did.
A leading baseball pitching mechanic expert, Tom House also stated this, " It is actually the easiest pitch on the arm because if it (the curveball) is thrown properly, it's in a strength position, and it's the slowest velocity. When you're karate-chopping a brick, you're not doing it with your palm, you're doing it with the side of your hand, just like the curveball. If you twist when you do it, that's where all the issues in the elbow come in."
Now that we know that throwing a curveball is okay, but how do we teach it properly to youth athletes? First start off with teaching a fastball. If the youth athlete can get the fastball mechanics down properly, then half the battle is won for that athlete. The next thing to do is show the athlete the grip of a curveball, and tell them these instructions: think fastball until the last minute. At the last minute you are karate chop with the ball in your hand. Don Sutton stated this about throwing the curve, " Load up at a 90-degree angle with your upper arm and lower arm and throw the karate chop, and the ball will come out spinning."
A drill that is easy to do that I learned from Tyler Kepner's fantastic book "K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches" showcased what some relief pitchers will do in the bullpen early in the game. They would start with paper cups and practice their curveball spin to a teammate. The teammates would set up chairs close to their teammate and practice on who created better spin. They would then go to a baseball and do the same.
A curveball is a difference maker for many pitchers, if taught at an early age it can become a dastardly pitch for the athlete. A disclaimer here, not every athlete will be able to throw a great curveball. Some won't be able to understand the pitch at all, but it is worth the opportunity because as coaches we must remember we are serving our young athletes. It is their careers not ours. You want to be the coach that you always wanted to play for so teaching the proper mechanics and understanding what research says will allow this to happen for your young athletes.
Supplemental Readings:
Tyler Kepner's "K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches." https://www.amazon.com/K-History-Baseball-Ten-Pitches/dp/0385541015
A leading baseball pitching mechanic expert, Tom House also stated this, " It is actually the easiest pitch on the arm because if it (the curveball) is thrown properly, it's in a strength position, and it's the slowest velocity. When you're karate-chopping a brick, you're not doing it with your palm, you're doing it with the side of your hand, just like the curveball. If you twist when you do it, that's where all the issues in the elbow come in."
Now that we know that throwing a curveball is okay, but how do we teach it properly to youth athletes? First start off with teaching a fastball. If the youth athlete can get the fastball mechanics down properly, then half the battle is won for that athlete. The next thing to do is show the athlete the grip of a curveball, and tell them these instructions: think fastball until the last minute. At the last minute you are karate chop with the ball in your hand. Don Sutton stated this about throwing the curve, " Load up at a 90-degree angle with your upper arm and lower arm and throw the karate chop, and the ball will come out spinning."
A drill that is easy to do that I learned from Tyler Kepner's fantastic book "K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches" showcased what some relief pitchers will do in the bullpen early in the game. They would start with paper cups and practice their curveball spin to a teammate. The teammates would set up chairs close to their teammate and practice on who created better spin. They would then go to a baseball and do the same.
A curveball is a difference maker for many pitchers, if taught at an early age it can become a dastardly pitch for the athlete. A disclaimer here, not every athlete will be able to throw a great curveball. Some won't be able to understand the pitch at all, but it is worth the opportunity because as coaches we must remember we are serving our young athletes. It is their careers not ours. You want to be the coach that you always wanted to play for so teaching the proper mechanics and understanding what research says will allow this to happen for your young athletes.
Supplemental Readings:
Tyler Kepner's "K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches." https://www.amazon.com/K-History-Baseball-Ten-Pitches/dp/0385541015
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