While perhaps a bit afar from standard ELS Blog fare, today's NYT includes an interesting front-page story (here) on emerging data on whether curve ball bans and pitch count limits, imposed by many little leagues, are borne out by data.
As the NYT article describes, "it has been an article of faith for parents of young pitchers: Do not let them throw curveballs. The reason was simple. Contorting elbows — all in the service of ever more competitive baseball at ever younger ages — puts more strain on the joint than arms can handle." A recent study, however, concludes that: "The curveball may not be more potentially harmful than the fastball for youth pitchers. This finding is consistent with recent epidemiologic research indicating that amount of pitching is a stronger risk factor than type of pitches thrown."
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