Jose Fernandez Done

Take a number. Now serving #18. Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez becomes the 18th pitcher since the start of spring training to go down with an arm injury requiring Tommy John surgery. I was in the stands this spring when Patrick Corbin from the Diamondbacks went down with the same injury. Corbin was cruising along & then one pitch in the 7th & he grabbed his arm & walked off the mound. Why is this happening? I believe you need to start looking at the throwing regimes with kids in Little League. Personally, I have a crooked arm from pitching. I never threw a curve ball in Little League. I started throwing curves in Babe Ruth, high school, American Legion & continued through college. By my junior year in college I found that my arm was permanently bent at the elbow. My results suffered that year, but I continued pitching that year & my senior year & for 3 more years after college. I'm no professional, so I'm not interested in having an operation. But I do see kids at 10-11-12 years old trying to throw some kind of breaking ball. It's going to come back & bite them. All you dads who are teaching your kids to throw curves & sliders at a young age, stop! Look what's happening. A good fastball that you can throw for a strike & a changeup should be all a young pitcher needs to get by for quite a while. Try gripping the ball differently & see if it moves naturally without breaking your wrist. I know a guy who had pretty good success by just changing grips - Mike Flanagan.