'In the Dugout' is a monthly column written by a local youth, travel, high school or collegiate coach about a specific aspect of the game. This month's guest columnist is Stone Bridge High School head coach Sam Plank, who writes about the importance of pitchers maintaining an effective offseason program to strengthen and care for their arms.
We have been very blessed over the years to have had many very talented pitchers put on the Bulldog uniform.
The common characteristic of all these pitchers is their commitment to year-round conditioning and training. It is very important for all pitchers to have a weekly routine, whether in high school or travel ball. And we expect our pitchers to continue this routine during their fall season, high school season in the spring, and summer travel season.
It is very important to limit pitch counts during any given week period. We recommend to our pitchers that they ice, condition before and after throwing, and follow through on a throwing plan which would include a scheduled start or potential relief appearance. This is of the utmost importance for their maintenance and development.
A challenge that travel ball presents involves pitchers throwing more than 60 pitches during a weekend tournament, while playing other positions as well, putting further stress on their arm and shoulder. We encourage all of our pitchers to keep track of innings pitched during each individual season – in the spring, summer and fall.
The emergence of the GameChanger appplication allows coaches and players alike to keep track of each individual game totals, including pitches thrown, and has been of great assistance to monitoring our pitchers year-round. We have also started pushing our players to attend weekly yoga classes during the off-season. The flexibility and core strength this ads to an athlete has proven to be one of the key ingredients in preventing injuries to our players.
Here are some key components to our pitching philosophy at Stone Bridge:
Research supports a connection between long-term arm issues resulting in Tommy John surgeries and other procedures and the rise of year-round throwing programs. There has been a push to give substantial time off following the end of the fall season and the beginning of high school or spring seasons.
Our pitchers do not throw from early November until mid-January to give throwing arms an opportunity to rejuvenate themselves and work on mechanics based drills including towel drills and band activities. During this period, our pitchers work very hard on core exercises in weight room and yoga classes.
The emphasis on body mechanics and developing the necessary muscle memory to support arm action allows for more productive and healthier throwing sessions and bullpens when throwing resumes in early winter. Repetitions are fewer in the early winter but the quality is higher because of the work done to solidify body mechanics, focusing on lower half explosion and hip rotation.
Once the season begins, the throwing program focuses mostly on flat ground work and long toss. Band work and towel drills are completed nearly every day. Conditioning includes sprints of various distances and abdominal and core strengthening exercises.
Pitchers only eclipse 100 pitches late in the season if at all. Virginia High School League (VHSL) regulations are based on an innings count, but not all innings are alike. Even individual pitches are not of the same intensity and all these factors need to be taken into account when determining when a pitcher should be removed from a game. Generally speaking, more than 60 pitches should result in at least four days of rest. And a pitcher who has thrown more than 80 pitches should have a full five days of rest.
Editor’s Note: Plank is entering his 15th season as the head coach at Stone Bridge, where he has won six league championships and led the Bulldogs to a 23-2 record and the Virginia 5A North Region championship last spring. During his tenure, the Bulldogs program has produced numerous collegiate pitchers, including J.B. Bukauskas, who was The Washington Post All-Met Player of the Year last spring and his now pitching at the University of North Carolina. Plank enters the season with a 224-102-1 record as the coach at Stone Bridge, and has twice been named the region’s coach of the year. He also serves as the director of basebal operations at the Diamond Elite baseball academy.
Sean Griffin, the pitching coach at Stone Bridge HS, contributed to this column.
Photo Courtesy/Stone Bridge Baseball
