Little league dads, help me out.

[chipman283]

I have a 10 yr old son who is a pretty good baseball player and have been thinking of building a pitchers mound in my back yard. Has anyone out there done this? I don't think it's really going to be that hard to do just looking for some pointers.

[OV5-G8OrgGT]

Did not make a mound, since the little league down here have the rubber level with home plate. Went to Play-It-Again Sports, a store that buys and sales used sports stuff, to buy the set of bases and pitcher's rubber. I then just measured the distanced, and had them throw it to me as I was crouched like a catcher.

[wnt2gofst]

My son is 13 and pitches and plays for two different traveling teams in ohio. He has played basebll since he was 4yrs old. Being so young i wouldnt worry about a mound yet. Get him just used to pitching first. Working on his ball control, speed, form to include the stretch and wind-up. The harder they start throwing the harder the ball contyrol becomes. If he can get used to throwing as hard as he can accurate it willnt be a challenge to throw from a mound. My son has adjusted to a mound very well. From a mound it is only a slight difference where you release the ball.

[NYG8GT]

My son is only 8 weeks old tomorrow but I'm definitely going to do this at some point, probably even for myself. I've been itching to get back in to pitching, even if its just throwing a buckets worth of balls in to a net. I miss playing baseball so much :( I had a nasty knuckle curve I'm hoping to teach my little one in like 13 years lol.

[MongosG8]

Being a volunteer little league coach I would agree with a couple posts ..Do not even bother yet until the child gets used to the feel of pitching.
In CT they start them with an even field level to home plate. As they go through the leagues and get older the mounds develop, so does their pitching technique. So I would hold off and get him used to the fundamentals first. Get him acquainted with the rubber first, how he pushes off and throwing style.

[OLD_GOAT]

Also.........don't even think about teaching him a curveball or slider until he is in his mid teens. Over the years, I've seen too many wanna-be pitching coaches hurt some 12 year olds arm.

I will admit every kid needs an 'out' pitch, something to throw on a 0-2 or 1-2 count. Maybe have him take something off the pitch or teach him to control a pitch that is off the outside corner or neck high to the batter, but over the middle or outside part of the plate.

Young arms are precious, please protect his.

[chipman283]

he has already been pitching for 2 years, we start playing live arm here at 9 yrs. old. He only has 2 pitches a two seam fastball, and a fourseam fastball. I am teaching him that pitching at this level is all about location, and speed. The reason I am wanting to build a mound is that the only ones available are a 15 min. drive from home and thats not really worth the drive for him to throw me 20-30 pitches every couple of days.

[NYG8GT]

Also.........don't even think about teaching him a curveball or slider until he is in his mid teens. Over the years, I've seen too many wanna-be pitching coaches hurt some 12 year olds arm.

I will admit every kid needs an 'out' pitch, something to throw on a 0-2 or 1-2 count. Maybe have him take something off the pitch or teach him to control a pitch that is off the outside corner or neck high to the batter, but over the middle or outside part of the plate.

Young arms are precious, please protect his.
^^^ +1, I tried throwing curves probably before I was even 13 and I developed tennis elbow down the line, got bad enough to where my arm would swell up after a solid 6 innings sometimes and I'd have to not throw a baseball at all for probably a good 3 days. Even to this day it'll act up a little bit. I've found the knuckle curve to be alright to throw and I never had a problem with that, but it's not as intrusive on the arm as a regular curve and mainly works because of the grip.

Fuck, all this talk about baseball makes me hate myself for not staying in shape and pursuing the adult league we have in the area :( FML lol