TOW #23- "Baseball is Injuring Too Many Kids"

In an article written for the New York Times,  a father and little league baseball coach, Jeff Passan, argues that the current pressure placed on baseball is injuring too many kids.  The year round training and intensity in pitching has caused many young players to develop serious arm injuries requiring surgeries and long term recovery.  To be injured at such a young age is not natural and is shown through a study that Passan references.  More than 57% of Tommy John surgeries, a surgery for a specific arm injury, were performed on teenagers.  An alarming study such as this one catches the attention of the audience and requires us to think about the immense amount of kids being injured playing a sport.  Especially for little league players, baseball should be about the love of the game rather than intense competition.  The author addresses those who are working hard to get a scholarship or make it to the major leagues but then refutes their argument by proving how small the number of scholarships really is.  The "pipe dream" that they are working for is not worth the injury because it will most likely not pay off in the long run.  And even if it did, how would they be able to fulfill their dreams with such an injury?  By addressing both young and old players, the author reaches out to players, parents, and coaches of all ages because he believes that is necessary to solve the issue.  He proposes different solutions for different ages and also compares the statistics of intensity of training of Japan's leagues and those of the US.  This distinction is important to mention because of the moderation that needs to be applied in both cases.  For little league players, Passan proposes that coaches only let kids pitch for one inning to stop them from breaking the number of pitches per game limit that keeps them healthy.  The year round training for older players is the trouble spot for his solution.  The hole in his argument is that most players in high school will not give up playing over the summer for fear that they will fall behind.  Many look for scholarships to colleges and will start intense training freshman year.  They will not let up until they graduate or commit to a school.  This is extremely dangerous for their health, argues Passan, but he does not have a solution to keep them from playing.  As much as a parent might warn, teenagers will still play if they want to play.  Proposing a change to teams or training facilities and coaches may work better.  If there isn't training available, they won't be able to injure their arms further over the summer or during off season time.  Overall, Passan proves that there are serious dangers to the way that baseball players go about their training now in all leagues of all ages.  However, the solutions to this issue may take some time and adjustment because of player determination for older teens.