Dr. James Andrews, a baseball legend in his own right, made an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show this week to talk youth baseball arm health.
First off, let’s get Dr. James Andrews in the baseball Hall of Fame soon, yea? He’d be the first in his profession to be inducted. But if you can induct Homer Simpson, I’d say a guy like Doc deserves a spot.
There are a lot of people with 0 medical background that don’t know shit about elbows or shoulders throwing out (no pun intended) opinions on how to raise healthy arms. Since there isn’t much factual evidence out at this time (we’re a couple years away from having some solid stuff), I’m pretty skeptical on all opinions here. But who better to listen to than Dr. James Andrews? The guy has performed I believe like tens of thousands of Tommy John surgeries.
Here’s what he had to say on The Dan Patrick Show about youth arm health.
Without any expertise on the topic, If I had to lean one way or the other, I’d have leaned toward throwing more vs throwing less. But Doc seems to believe otherwise. It’s just what always worked for me my whole life. The less I threw the more my arm would feel tension and pain. When I threw every day my arm felt loose and healthy. I think the science in a couple years will tell us mainly that everyone’s arm is different, and that there’s a lot of important molding happening while throwing at a young age.
