STRENGTHENING ARMS: A BYB FEATURE

Last month, Bleeding Yankee Blue did a story on arm injuries titled SAVING ARMS: A BYB FEATURE. Ultimately, it was filled with great information and the interview was with former minor league pitcher and current instructor Steve Hayward, co-founder of the Baseball Health Network.

That piece sited warning signs for arm injuries in our youth as well as prevention. Over the course of the last month,  I’ve continued my research and I was able to further  the discussion with former Seton Hall coach, Mike Cocco.

(In Photo: Mike Sheppard)
Cocco, who was on the Seton Hall staff under legendary Skipper Mike Sheppard, has been an American Legion Coach and youth coach for over 30 years and has vigorously studied pitching and throwing in general over the course of his life. He also happened to be on the staff when Steve Hayward pitched at Seton Hall University.

(In Photo: Mike Cocco)
Cocco and I spent time discussing some coaching and throwing concepts and misconceptions and he also shared some great ideas that he uses with his young players today. I found the whole thing fascinating.  As a general goal, Cocco stated:

“When I look back at the players I’ve coached, if 15-20 years later, they can still throw, then I know I’ve done my job.”

In order for youngsters to prepare their bodies for sports and to condition themselves to be successful, they have to be active. That's really the bottom line. Steve Hayward stated in our discussion that for his young sons, he simply creates obstacle courses at playgrounds and has them run the courses. This forces them to use their bodies and forces them to be competitive in a fun environment. Cocco says "The PS4 or Minecraft generation just doesn’t stay active enough these days."

(In Photo: Leo Mazzone, left, John Smoltz, right)
Cocco referenced something former Braves pitching Coach Leo Mazzone would tell his players: “Throw with a purpose every day.”  That doesn’t necessarily mean throw at 100%, but throw with a goal in mind. I tell my youth players as they are warming up, when they get to roughly 60 feet apart, stop there and throw me 10 change-ups. That way they work on their grip and become comfortable with the pitch.  If you are playing catch without a purpose, it’s wasted time.

Another point that is lost by some players and coaches is long toss. It's a very valuable exercise. For some reason it's overlooked very often.  Long toss builds arm strength, stamina and can assure long term arm health. Cocco suggested to use a football field to throw on if possible. The reason is that this way, the thrower will know the exact distance due to the markers. Long toss to the point where a young player can still make an accurate throw. For example, if you get to 100 feet and the player starts missing the target drastically, bring him in 10 feet and keep an eye on his accuracy.

Cocco stated; “The players should be able to keep the throw on line and hit his target more often than not.”

Cocco was full of info, and kept going. He and I agreed that players don’t practice or warm up for game situations as much as they should.  How many times have you seen a youth player throw from 40 feet then go right into infield/outfield practice? They say they're loose, but how are they prepared to throw 100-150 feet after throwing just 40?  They aren't.

(In Photo: Mike Cocco with his kids at the Hall of Fame induction of friend Craig Biggio)

Another example Cocco used was poor habits between innings.

Cocco: “Why do youth players take their warm up grounders on the infield grass? How does that prepare them for the ground ball in the hole where they have to throw the ball nearly twice as far as they did in warm ups?”

It doesn’t at all! Great point. Watch big leaguers take warm ups, they take their grounders from the outfield grass, or from the position they would be in to make the longest throw they would likely have to make during live action.

It just makes sense, doesn’t it?

Poor habits like the ones mentioned above can put players at a greater risk for injury believe it or not. But it also doesn’t prepare them for game situations. We practice to prepare for games. So why not practice by doing the same exact thing you would do in a game. It starts with simple things like wearing a helmet while you hit. It may not seem like much, but you wear it in a game, so why not wear it while preparing for a game?

While discussing pitching in general, which is always a hot topic, Cocco had some great suggestions:

Cocco: “A lot of players ask, ‘Coach, can I throw some curve balls?’ Something to look at is can they throw a fastball consistently for strikes. If they can’t throw fastballs, both two seam and four seam, and a change-up for strikes, they need to focus on that before they start messing with a more difficult pitch. That doesn’t mean they can’t throw a couple, but the emphasis should be on the fastball first.”

Another point he stressed was not throwing to the catcher’s glove, but through it. A way for the pitcher to do this is to back the catcher up two feet and force the player to throw 48’, if still in Little League, or 62’ if on the 90 foot diamond. Coke also suggested having the pitcher make several throws from behind the mound before getting on the rubber. This goes right along with point above about infielders warming up on the grass. They make their longer throws first so when they are throwing from the mound, they are prepared for it.

As for pitch counts, Cocco suggests that 12-14 year-old pitchers top out at 60-80 pitches max, while high school pitchers shouldn’t throw more than 90 or so. Too much more than that can lead to overuse and an increased risk of injury.

Cocco: “You need to know your players, some players are good with 60 pitches, while others struggle at 40. Understanding the players limits as well as the point in the season and arm condition is also a key factor. Early in the year, we may limit the player to 40-60 and once the arm is in condition, we expand that to 50-70 and so on. For pitchers and even position players, keeping the legs in shape is also critical, more times than not, the legs give before the arm gets tired. Pitchers throwing 40+ pitches per game need to have strong legs and good cardiovascular conditioning.”

All of us coaches need to learn how to protect our players and assure they are prepared when it comes to game time. They need to be conditioned to throw, as well as be properly warmed up before and during the games. We, as coaches, should keep a very watchful eye on this.

Cocco and I could have continued to talk for hours and I could see we share a passion and love for the game. Putting this kind of information out there on Bleeding Yankee Blue for you folks will only make the game and players better and healthier.

Thank you Coach Cocco for taking the time to speak with me and help us create awareness for youth baseball coaches and athletes. It’s always great to be able to listen to different perspectives but one thing I’ve noticed is most experienced coaches, guys like Cocco and Steve Hayward and others, are roughly on the same page.

As coaches, our priority is assuring the health of our athletes while providing them as much information as possible.

BYB has asked me to continue this series.  SAVING ARMS: A BYB FEATURE was an insanely popular series, and so, we will continue to make both parents and coaches aware.  We hope you read and share this latest piece and be sure to look for the next installment soon.
 

 --Dan Lucia
BYB Senior Writer
Twitter: @DManLucia

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PHIL HUGHES HAS GOT IT & HERE'S WHY

The trouble with Phil Hughes on the Yankees, was that it was Phil Hughes and he was on the Yankees.

I wanted Hughes to succeed in Yankeeland, we all did... but he couldn't, and that's because of the way the Yankees had handled young pitching, especially when Hughes was on the farm. This information goes back to when Bill Masse was mysteriously fired from being manager of the Trenton Thunder after he made comments about the way the Yankees handled their pitching.  Masse said this at the time, (Read WAS BILL MASSE RIGHT ABOUT HUGHES? for more):

“We get so ridiculous with this dumb pitch count stuff… Somebody came up with a pitch count thing (like) this is going to decide if a kid’s arm is going to be healthy or not. It’s like predicting the weather sometimes. ‘If he throws 66 pitches, he will be fine, but if he throws 81, he is going to get hurt.’ No one can predict that...The only negative you run into is that he never learns how to pitch when he is tired. He never learns how to pitch when he is a little bit fatigued. I think you run into those problems because he is always fresh. Also, he is never in trouble. He needs to learn how to pitch out of his second or third jam in the seventh inning with two outs and he’s throwing 90 mph instead of 94.”

Couple that with a tremendous article CBS wrote where they interviewed Leo Mazzone who simply stated pitchers needed to throw more: 

"More often with less exertion is the key to lowering the risk of arm injury... For example, I had them go on the mound more often than other pitching staffs to practice their craft at 60’6” going downhill to a catcher, but the effort was controlled because our goal was to find out what the effort was going to be on the pitch, or the max effort that we could put on the pitch without maxing out...

...We found out that by practicing that, and trying to acquire touch on the ball, guys could make pitches with a 90 percent effort, automatically smooth out their mechanics, and their control got better.”

More often, less exertion.  Seriously, that fascinating to me.

Now I don't know what the Twins are doing with Phil Hughes... but I can tell you that I'm pretty sure they are doing this.  The Yankees don't do it, or at least they didn't when Bill Masse was with the organization... that's quite evident. And so I can only conclude that's what happened to Phil Hughes and the Yankees. That's also my opinion.

That brings me to last night.  Phil Hughes had it and dominated the Yankees.  The Twins did too, scoring 10 runs off of Pineda and the pen.  It was an embarrassment.

Pineda went 5.2 innings, gave up 8 hits and 5 runs.  The rest of the pen gave up the other 5.  Yuck.

Hughes went 7 innings, gave up 7 hits and zero runs.  The only run was given up by Casey Fien.  Jacoby Ellsbury sacrificed home Didi Gregorius on a fly ball to center off Fien.  That was all.

Yanks will have to turn it around today.  CC Sabathia is on the mound.

And look, I'm sorry to appear like I'm lecturing my audience about Phil Hughes and the Yankees handling of young pitchers.  I need to be honest with you... this type of regime is effective and could help pitchers as young as 12.  Why are young pitchers getting Tommy John surgery at such a young age.  Well... do you think there's a connection here? Organizations are just letting them throw... sometimes hard... sometimes babying them, not realizing the big picture. Throw more, less exertion.  Throwing more often, but not throwing hard can build you up.  Then over time, in game situations, stretch them out. Allow pitchers to get into trouble.  Put them in games and let them get into jams so they can work themselves through it.  That could be the difference.  I truly believe that.

(In Photo: Bill Masse)
Leo Mazzone... Bill Masse are definitely onto something.  Last night it appeared to be pretty obvious.

Final: Twins 10 - Yankees 1

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SABATHIA: STRONGER & LEANER FOR 2014

This week I happened upon a saying across the social media channels that I carried with me throughout my workouts- “Fit looks good on everybody.”  If you are like me, I need to have some check-in motivators to keep me going, particularly when I am having a challenging week and it is as cold and snowy as it has been this winter.  And let’s face it, so do pro-athletes.  That’s why I say to CC Sabathia- Fit looks good on you!  Stay with it, Ace!

Speaking at a Roc Nation sponsored Super Bowl event this week, CC acknowledged leaving out an important part of his weight loss regiment last season.  “Last year, I lost a lot of weight, so I kind of lost a little bit of power,” Sabathia said. “This year it’s all been strength building and worrying about getting better and stronger, so I feel pretty good.”  He has been looking considerably leaner, but he has not lost weight.  His lean physique progressively has been adding more muscle.  According to an article in the New York Post, “last winter Sabathia shed about 30 pounds, and said it affected his pitching. The goal this time around has been to add muscle.”

 According to a New York Times article published in November, Leo Mazzone, a former pitching coach for the Atlanta Braves states that Sabathia may just have to gain some of that weight back.  "'I think in Sabathia’s case, the loss of weight caused a loss of strength,” Mazzone said. “You have to determine what weight is good for the individual. Don’t base it on statistics. If you pitch at a certain weight and you’ve been successful, there’s no reason to lose it. I’ve had guys that lost a lot of weight, then they complain that they’re tired.”

Strength and endurance training is the often missing ingredients in diet and weight loss regiments employed by people looking to shed a few unwanted pounds quickly.  We often know we need to lose the pounds and we crash diet, but truthfully a full fitness and nutritional program is what we need.  CC figured that out with his statement earlier in the week.

Besides strength and conditioning, a good healthy diet is something you have to retrain your body to implement regularly not just for a month.  “Eating at restaurants drains your wallet- and can add pounds to your waist.  A University of Texas at Austin study found that dieters scarfed down 253 more calories and 16 extra grams of fat on the days they ate out,” according to an article published in Runner’s World this month.   The challenge for CC is to be extra careful when he’s on the road and to keep with his strength training on his off days.  The Captain Crunch loving CC will need to maintain his muscle mass and lay off added sugar and fats that eating out and binge eating provide.  “Even nutrition labeling on many restaurant menus isn’t doing much to slash the calories we inhale,” according to a study by researchers at the University of Washington. 

Having a positive mindset to parallel both a healthy fitness and nutritional regiment is the perfect recipe for a successful season.  “You look at who we signed, we’ve got Carlos Beltran and Jacoby Ellsbury addressing the outfield,” Sabathia said. “We’ve got [Brian] McCann behind the plate. I’m excited for this team and where we can go and the possibilities. Keeping healthy for a whole year, I think it will make a big difference.”  And remember, CC, fit looks good on you- I’m excited to see what your hard work has in store for you this season.  It could be a personal best for you!

--Suzie Pinstripe, BYB Opinion Columnist
Twitter: @suzieprof




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