The ABF presented its summary of research related to youth baseball pitching to the Development Commission of the International Baseball Federation at its world congress held in Dallas, Texas on December 2 & 3, 2011. Identifying the relative importance of causal factors affecting youth pitchers, David Osinski detailed key research, undertaken mostly in Birmingham under the direction of the American Sports Medicine Institute (ASMI), that substantiates overuse as the leading injury cause.
Osinski summarized ABF research that has produced a magnet in both English and Spanish that lists average speeds for pitchers 8 to 14 years of age. Families can compare the pitch speed of their children to the average and to the world norm for elite pitchers whose speeds far exceed the average. The elite group is composed of pitchers whose velocity makes them 1/400. Also the ABF suggests protection parameters for the elite pitcher as well as those who pitch at the average
For downloads of the results of ABF research in both English and in Spanish, go to the ABF website: www.americanbaseball.org
