Expert: Rick Bundy - 2/19/2009

Question
My 11 yr old has been pitching for 3 years.  He is currently pitching @ 63 mph.  He is 5'7" & 160 lbs (yeah, he a big one).  My question is that he just started middle school and signed up for discus and shot put in track.  Will this hurt his pitching?  Forgot to mention, he is a lefty too.  He sticks to a daily weight lifting routine, which includes sit-ups.

Answer
Karen:  Thank you for your question.

Shot put and discus have evolved into events requiring agility, and quickness, as well as strength.

Those are all athletic traits which would be beneficial for all baseball players, pitchers included, as long as the athletes use a good stretching routine to retain or increase their flexibility.

Track and baseball are generally in season at the same time of year.  That can present a problem, as your son gets older.  Each sport has its' needs, and there are only so many hours available, as well as conflicting competition dates.  If he is doing track during school, playing baseball in the summer, you don't have that conflict.

It is becoming increasingly harder for high school athletes to play three sports in consecutive seasons, or even two, let alone two in the same season.  I personally don't believe that is a good trend; but it is becoming a reality.   In middle school, it could probably work to do both; but making that choice will come up at the high school level.

The sit ups, crunches or any core strength building exercises are ok to do on a daily basis, as well as agility work.  Weight training requires some rebuild time between workouts.  Every day, at 11 years old, is too much in my opinion.  Too much, too soon can be more detrimental than not enough, early on.

Depending upon where you live, throwing too much can be an issue.  I live and coach in Arizona.  Players can be playing competitively year round.  Not a good situation for young pitchers, whose arms need some down time.

It sounds like he is a good athlete.  Being a left handed pitcher is always a good thing.

Good luck.  

Yours in baseball,

Rick