New Thinking: Conventional wisdom has long warned against young pitchers throwing curveballs for fear that the extreme stress it puts on the elbow can tear the ulnar collateral ligament [see below] or even break their growing bones. A new study published by Fleisig earlier this year in the American Journal of Sports Medicine showed that the fastball actually puts slightly more stress on the player’s arm than a curveball. The bigger risk factor, the study concluded, is how many pitches are thrown. Based on this research, Little League Baseball just instituted its first pitch-count limits: 50 pitches a day for eight-year-olds, scaling up with age.
