How Baseball Weight May be Affecting Youth Players
Elbow injuries are dominating the news in the Major Leagues this season. However, care for a young pitcher’s arm begins well before they make it to the show. The incidence of elbow injuries in little league athletes has opened the door for research into both etiology and prevention of these injuries.
A study published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine looked at the amount of elbow torque in a little league (< 12 years old) player with a standard 5 oz baseball versus a 4 oz and 3 oz baseball (1). They also adjusted the size circumference of the baseball to see if that can affect elbow torque (1). Compared to other sports who use lighter balls in younger athletes, little league baseball players use a standard MLB baseball on a smaller field (1). In the article, the authors discussed some of the changes the young athletes make to overcome the larger ball, such as using a three finger grip instead of a two finger grip (1).
Based on the results, there was a statically significant difference in the amount of elbow torque seen in the 5oz verse 3oz baseball group (1). There was no change seen in shoulder distraction force or internal rotation velocity with the different balls (1). The biggest take away from this is that using a lighter ball can take stress off the elbow and the velocity of the pitched balls will not increase.
This study should hopefully lead to more investigation into using lighter baseballs in our little league population. There is no long-term data that looks at the amount of elbow injuries in an older population who grew up throwing lighter baseballs.
References
Moore, Miles S., et al. “Effects of Ball Size and Weight on Throwing Kinematics and Kinetics in Youth Baseball Athletes.” The American Journal of Sports Medicine, vol. 52, no. 2, Feb. 2024, pp. 516–21. PubMed, https://doi.org/10.1177/03635465231213333.