How we track softball pitcher recovery
Peak forces during the windmill pitch expressed as percentages of body weight. Pitcher is Lily Cash (C/O 2026).
The windmill pitch is not a “more natural movement,” which is an old school myth that persists in corners of the softball world. It is just as hard on the body as the overhand pitch in baseball.
The distraction forces on the shoulder and elbow are similar to the baseball pitch (1)(2). Pitchers are clearly getting fatigued (3), and the bicep takes on more stress in the windmill motion (4). And yet, we have much less data available on this ballistic movement compared to the baseball pitch. Despite the emerging data on pitch counts and pain (5), softball has little-to-no governance on pitch counts to reduce injury.
Many softball pitchers are asked to pitch between 300 and 700 times during a travel tournament weekend (6). This is unheard of in the baseball world. Just last month, two pitchers from arguably the best college team medically retired before age 22 (7).
Earlier this year, senior pitcher and aspiring physician Ashley Rogers from the University of Tennessee decided to make pitch volume and injury the focus of her study after struggling with nagging ailments for years (8).
“Almost every single injury was after a stretch where the pitcher had just thrown a large number of pitches within a short amount of time,” Rogers found.
Why is this such a pervasive issue? Travel schedules are grueling with multiple games a day, and high school season pitch counts can be devastating if the community doesn’t have many pitchers for the local team.
And many softball coaches still don’t understand just how hard this movement is on the body.
This past season, high pitch counts took their toll… so we made changes.
As strength and sports performance professionals, we strive to prepare our athletes for game demands, improving their strength, speed, agility, and resistance to non-contact injury. We don’t profess to know everything, and we are always looking to learn and get better.
So, when some of our pitchers started to report excessive soreness, pain, and overuse injuries after high school games this past spring, we pivoted our approach to tracking pitch count, performance load, and recovery. We switched our technology platform to gather more specific data. Our coaches started digging into the newest research on the windmill pitch, and we adjusted our training programs based on emerging information to try and mitigate whatever we could for our pitchers’ high pitch counts.
In windmill pitching, the bicep is significantly more active than in the overhand throw, which makes it much more susceptible to overuse injury (4). This is just one of the ways that we used research to influence changes in our training protocols. Read about more changes we’ve made to fill in the gaps.
Softball pitchers shoulder a huge burden for their teams, and they deserve just as much attention to safety as baseball does for its pitchers. They deserve to have successful careers that will last them into the pros, or just healthy joints that last the rest of their lives.
Here’s what we are doing to gather data and inform individual recovery and readiness to play.
App Survey: Self reported full-effort pitch count from one of our athletes
Our readiness and recovery tracking method and measures
We made a technology platform switch to CoachMePlus in the spring semester to better track readiness and recovery. All of our athletes participate in elements of this, but our pitchers have to submit additional information.
Data Collection Method:
Daily surveys for all of our pitchers via the CoachMePlus app to fill out on their phones
Data Points Collected:
muscle group pain (rate: 1-10)
muscle-group soreness (rate: 1-10)
general soreness level (rate: 1-5)
pitch count (# of pitches)
sleep quantity (# of hours)
sleep quality (rate: 1-5)
nutrition (# of meals and snacks)
hydration (# of oz)
mood/mental (rate: 1-5)
energy level (rate: 1-5)
bodyweight (# of pounds- pre/post competition weigh-ins to understand individual hydration recovery needs)
Limitations:
Inconsistency in survey submissions (our biggest data weakness)
Statistically small participant group (between 5 - 15 pitchers submitting information depending on time of year)
Inconsistency in training schedules (missing training for other activities)
Some athletes elect to not fill in information about pre/post competition body weight
Variances in pitching execution (good/bad mechanics) isn’t accounted for and might influence strain
App Survey: Soreness by muscle group trend dashboard over the last 30 days
App Survey: A portion of our daily wellness questionnaire tracking energy levels, mood, and perceived recovery.
App Survey: A portion of our daily wellness questionnaire tracking sleep data.
How we are using this information in the short term
Our coaches analyze the results on an individual basis. By looking at the days before and after strength and conditioning, and the days before and after pitching, we help our pitchers understand what their bodies can tolerate. We’re changing their strength programs based on when and where they are feeling soreness or pain… aiming to better protect those areas of the body against strain and help them recover faster.
With their permission, we share this information with any other health professionals they work with (physical therapists, chiropractors, medical doctors, etc.).
And outside of training, practice and games, we show our pitchers how changes in their nutrition, sleep, and hydration help them feel fresher for the next appearance in the circle.
We’ve learned that certain athletes have certain tolerance ranges when it comes to pitch count, and now they have this information, too. This helps them, and their parents, advocate with their coaches and pitching instructors. It’s just one small piece of information tossed into this sport, but the impact of a small stone should have a ripple affect.
Sydney Mayer prepares to pitch. We train her virtually and Facetime once a week to check in on training and recovery.
How we are using this information in the long term
Our vision is to work with others in the industry to gather more complete data and generate reputable insights to advocate for pitcher health. This is why we’ve put this article together– to start conversations and collaboration. If you are an industry professional that’s interested in this, reach out to me at coachj@raymerstrength.com.
We’ve been following a few folks on Twitter that regularly talk about pitcher training, game strain, and injury reduction. We encourage you to give them a follow as well:
Strength Coach Karli Sewell and the parent program S2 Breakthrough
Strength Coach Anna Woods
We’ve been starting conversations on protecting pitchers for the last few months online on Facebook and Twitter. Feel free to join in our discussions!
Sydney Mayer (C/O 2024) pitches during a high school game.
What’s next?
Anecdotally, we’re finding that younger pitchers are able to handle more pitches, probably due to the elasticity of the body. However, that does not mean they should load up on their pitch count.
In fact, if they are pitching a ton as youth, they are likely setting themselves up for an overuse injury. It’s wholly inappropriate for long term health, and it could be why some of our older high school pitchers don’t handle higher loads as well.
We’ll continue to collect more data over the next few years to come up with more solid insights. But already, we believe the softball industry needs to start creating and enforcing pitch counts by age similar to those in baseball, given the same strains on the body. The National Federation of State High School Associations also agrees that it might be time (9).
And if it’s started young and waterfall-ed through older ages over time, we may see more pitchers emerge to share the performance demand… instead of the shortages we see in travel and high school ball.
A pitch count could mean fewer teams, but if that’s the price we pay for healthy play, it’s worth it.
If you are looking for safer and effective strength and speed training for your pitcher that monitors their recovery and strain, get in touch. We work with pitchers virtually and in-person.
References
Werner SL, Guido JA, McNeice RP, Richardson JL, Delude NA, Stewart GW. Biomechanics of youth windmill softball pitching. Am J Sports Med. 2005 Apr;33(4):552-60. doi: 10.1177/0363546504269253. Epub 2005 Feb 8. PMID: 15722291.
Barrentine SW, Fleisig GS, Whiteside JA, Escamilla RF, Andrews JR. Biomechanics of windmill softball pitching with implications about injury mechanisms at the shoulder and elbow. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 1998 Dec;28(6):405-15. doi: 10.2519/jospt.1998.28.6.405. PMID: 9836172.
Corben JS, Cerrone SA, Soviero JE, Kwiecien SY, Nicholas SJ, McHugh MP. Performance Demands in Softball Pitching: A Comprehensive Muscle Fatigue Study. Am J Sports Med. 2015 Aug;43(8):2035-41. doi: 10.1177/0363546515588179. Epub 2015 Jun 24. PMID: 26109610.
Rojas IL, Provencher MT, Bhatia S, Foucher KC, Bach BR Jr, Romeo AA, Wimmer MA, Verma NN. Biceps activity during windmill softball pitching: injury implications and comparison with overhand throwing. Am J Sports Med. 2009 Mar;37(3):558-65. doi: 10.1177/0363546508328105. Epub 2009 Jan 27. PMID: 19174551.
Gooch B, Lambert BS, Goble H, McCulloch PC, Hedt C. Relationship Between Pitch Volume and Subjective Report of Injury in High School Female Fast-Pitch Softball Pitchers. Sports Health. 2022;14(5):702-709. doi:10.1177/19417381211051381
OrthoNebraska. “Softball Pitching Limits.” OrthoNebraska, OrthoNebraska, 11 Feb. 2022, orthonebraska.com/softball-pitching-limits/
McLeod, Justin. “Oklahoma Pitchers Macy McAdoo, Emmy Guthrie Medically Retiring from Softball.” Extra Inning Softball, 23 Aug. 2022, extrainningsoftball.com/oklahoma-pitchers-mcadoo-guthrie-medically-retiring-softball/?fbclid=IwAR3akMeEdo3qtzWJYmgp6qfL-xgB2KaQ3-Rob_wfB_uo6Jr2hWRsr_4vx5g.
Potkey, Rhiannon. “UT's Rogers Finds the Perfect Research Subject: Herself.” The Ledger: Knoxville Edition, 6 May 2022, www.tnledger.com/knoxville/editorial/Article.aspx?id=153119.
Looks like The Ledger removed the article. Here’s another one on Ashley Roger’s research: https://torchbearer.utk.edu/2022/12/on-the-field-and-in-the-lab/
Hurley, Phil, et al. “Is It Time for Pitch Counts in High School Softball?” NFHS, National Federation of State High School Associations, 6 Oct. 2021, www.nfhs.org/articles/is-it-time-for-pitch-counts-in-high-school-softball/.