Even though the weather hasn't quite cooperated with us this week, it is definitely baseball season here in Southern California!

This is both good news and bad news.

The good news is we have the longest Little League season in the country.

The bad news is we have the longest Little League season in the country.

With a season that runs January through May (and sometimes beyond with post-season tournaments and All-Stars), we get to practice more often, play more games, and enjoy baseball for months, even before many Little Leagues across the country hold tryouts.

More baseball is good, right?

Well, not always.

As the research piles up about the dangers of year-round sports specialization in general, and specifically the risk of arm injury in baseball, we must be vigilant in protecting young arms.

Overuse should be our #1 concern and I define this in 3 ways.

1) Throwing too much over a short period of time.

This includes pitching too many pitches in a single game or throwing too much over the course of week.

2) Throwing too much over a long period of time

A January through May season, All-Stars, then Summer Club Teams, then Fall/Winter Club teams...it's just too much stress on young and still-developing bodies!

Even guys in the MLB take 4-5 months off starting in the fall!

3) Not allowing the arm to get proper rest (in both the short term and long term).

This means not pitching on back-to-back days and not taking a good chunk of time off in the fall/winter.

These are 3 very serious risks to young players (especially pitchers).

The good news is, it's not hard AT ALL to protect our players from overuse; we just need knowledge (you're getting that now), discipline (we have to stick to our guns about this being a priority), and perspective (no single game is more important than the health of a young arm).

Let's break those concepts down:

Knowledge: In the pre-season, throwing should be very light as players work their arms back into shape. A 10-15 minute game of catch every 2-3 days is a good place to start. DO NOT let him throw the ball as hard as he can and DO NOT let him make too long of a throw. As Opening Day approaches, we can slowly build up the intensity with the idea being that we are as close to full strength as possible for the first game.

Discipline: As I'm finding out with my own son (who is only 15 months old), it's really hard to say NO when our kids want to do something fun with us - especially when it's something productive like playing catch. But if we're going to protect arms, we've got to have the ability to say NO. If you played a great game a catch on Monday, or if your son threw 50 pitches off a mound, even if he wants to get right back out there and do it again on Tuesday, we have to tell him NO and give his arm at least a day or two to recover.

Remember, starting pitchers in the Big Leagues pitch once every FIVE days. Keep that in mind when your son wants to go "pitch in the backyard" for the 4th day in a row.

Perspective: This becomes a bigger issue once the season starts but it's definitely worth talking about now. Just because a player is allowed to pitch based on Little League pitch count rules, doesn't mean it's necessarily a good idea to let him. Maybe it's the end of the season and he's running out of gas. Maybe when he's done pitching, he goes and plays shortstop and throws a lot more. Maybe he just had practice the day before a game where he worked on long relay throws from the outfield for 30 minutes. Pitch counts only count the GAME PITCHES (not warm-up pitches), and there is no mechanism to count overall throws from all positions, so it is our job as coaches and parents to try to keep track of the overall amount of work our player's arms are doing.

I always ask all my pitchers in lessons once the season gets started how their arm feels BEFORE we start playing catch and I encourage them to be brutally honest. Many kids will not admit that their arm is sore or tired because 1) they want to play and saying "I'm sore" might land them on the bench, 2) they don't want to disappoint their teammates by missing a game or an inning on the mound, 3) they don't want to disappoint Mom and Dad, 4) they don't want to be seen as "weak" or "wimpy."

At the first sign of arm soreness or fatigue in a lesson, we stop. On the spot. Immediately. No more throwing.

If a lesson student happened to have a game the day before our lesson, I won't let him pitch with me. If he has a game coming up tomorrow or the day after, we do a much shorter, low intensity mound workout.

I can't count how many times I've seen a well-meaning Dad get his son in the bullpen the day before the "big game" and have him thrown full-intensity for 50, 60, 70 pitches to "get him ready." NO NO NO! With something as delicate as a throwing arm, more practice is often the WORST thing you can do.

It's not like basketball where we can go out and shoot 100 free throws to prepare for the big game tomorrow. You might tire your son out with that many shots the day before a game, but you won't injure him.

The same is not true for baseball.

So, as we kick off the longest Little League season in America, let's be excited and grateful that we get to play so much baseball, but let's also be smart about how often and how much we let our kids throw so that we help them stay healthy for the entire 2016 as well as future seasons!