A new baseball season is upon us. Spring training, league tryouts, team schedules, and pre-season workouts are just around the corner.
If you are a parent or a coach, this information will help you help your athlete to become his/her best. You are the support system for young athletes. You also have a unique vantage point in that you are not directly in the heat of competition and the stress of the moment. Being on the sidelines allows you to help everyone in the game keep a more objective eye on keeping athletes of all ages safe and healthy. While pitching mechanics and functional fitness are the core stratagems of a healthy pitcher, come game day the work in these areas has or hasn't been done. Hopefully they HAVE been the focus throughout the year's preparation for the season and your athlete is in the best possible shape and form. But for this review we are focusing on what parents can do as the primary support system at, and after each game.
We've broken our review into four parts. They are:

-Nutrition
-Warm Up
-Pitch/Totals Workloads
-Recovery

Nutrition
Pre-game
Pitchers should eat foods that supply a generous amount of protein to sustain the workload that is experienced during pitching. A pitcher's pre-game meal should be comprised of grains, nuts in moderate amounts and portions. If the pitcher is starting the game, he can expect a significant amount of activity. In these cases he should consider eating a major meal high in protein but should make sure he doesn't eat so much as to feel gorged or bloated.
During a Game

A carbohydrate source such as an energy bar (Snickers is as good as any and a lot cheaper than most) is appropriate. As glycogen is rapidly restored for up to 2 hours after completing the exercise bout, it is appropriate to continue the carbohydrate source for that long.
Post-Game

Hydrate with artesian and spring waters that contain dissolved solids of 200-300 parts per million such as Evian, Fiji or Trinity water. Everyone should drink ½ your body weight in ounces per day. Example, my weight is 186 pounds. 186 divided by 2 =91. So I should drink 91 ounces of water each day. Most people simply do not drink enough healthy water. Drinking more water would be good for everyone. Water helps us eliminate toxins from our body and basically is the 'oil' that helps the body run well. Simply stated - drink more water, especially after a workout, practice or game.

Warm Up
While a specific warm up routine varies by individual pitcher, there are a few guidelines that will help. The warm up process is extremely important in reducing risk of injury. Basically it is important to know that pitchers need to warm up their bodies to loosen up to compete. They should not use the bullpen to warm up or loosen up.
Pre-game warm up drills should include:

-core temperature elevation with jogging, stretching/flexing (approx. 25-30 minutes)
-flat ground catch, towel drills, flat ground pitch to tolerance
-pre-game mound work (for 30-45 pitches)

If you have warmed up and loosened up properly your bullpen should only take about 10 minutes. When it comes to pre-game warm-up, we would take Nolan Ryan's advice. He said that he would not take the mound 'until he was ready to throw each of his pitches to the location that he wanted.'

**Pitch Totals / Workloads
This is an area where parents can make a huge difference. Keeping track of a pitcher's pitch totals and workloads is simple and very effective in keeping a pitcher out of danger of injury. A good relationship between coaches and parents will further this benefit if the coach understands that your intent as a parent is keeping your pitcher healthy.
The most successful pitchers throw:

-Fastballs 60 - 65% of the time
-Curveballs 20 - 25% of the time
-Change-ups 15-20% of the time

Figure 15-20 pitches per inning, 50-75 per game IF he gets there at 15-20 per inning. 50 is conservative for kids with 50/50 mechanics and functional strength. 75 is aggressive for kids with great mechanics and plenty of functional strength.
Note: A large pitch total in an inning (30-40 pitches) creates just as much muscle failure as 50-75 @ 15-20 per inning.

Recovery
Parents and coaches need to understand that the recovery of the pitchers will differ. Some guys are going to recover and bounce back sooner than others. Pitchers in general don't throw enough on flat ground and throw too much off of the mound.
Remember, in either case, with maximum pitch totals, there is no mound work for 48 hours after an outing. In the recovery period pitchers should only throw on flat ground.

Conclusion
While it can be a challenge to be diligent, remember that the longer our athletes stay healthy, the longer they can enjoy the game. And you know…that is exactly why they play the game of baseball. They love it. While we all want to win the game, the greater victory is keeping our young athletes healthy! The items in this review are things you can do as a parent on a consistent basis to help. So let's all do our best to ensure that they get the best chance to enjoy the game they love as long as possible. Have a great season!