Pitch Count in Professional Baseball Pitchers: USA vs Japan

There have been so many injuries in MLB about a half way through the season especially UCL tears, the most recently a NY Yankee pitcher, Tanaka. A lot of people in baseball world including coaches, media, and medical staff are discussing that pitchers in Japan pitch too much and they will get hurt. A pitch count is strongly reinforced in the US including little league baseball and professional baseball. However, it is not in Japan. Especially high school baseball in Japan is so popular and it is not rare that a single pitcher pitches a complete game in 6 straight games in a week long period tournament. However, if we look at how much Japanese professional pitchers pitch and compare it to American pitchers, it may be a bit surprising. In Japanese professional baseball league, they play 144 games with 6 men rotation. A typical healthy starting pitcher will be pitching in about 24 games a season. Let's say he pitches 125 pitches a game, he would be throwing 3000 pitches a season. In comparison, in MLB, 162 games are played a season with 5 men rotation. A pitcher will be pitching in 32 -33 games on average with average of about 100 pitches per outing. He would end up throwing 3200-3300 pitches a season. More games played, more pitches thrown, less time to recover... this may be something we should be looking at when it comes to Japanese pitchers getting hurt after coming to play in MLB. Ohh and these pitch count numbers do not include pitches thrown in each bullpen session and side session between starts. 

Knee Balance Exercise

We all know that balance is an important factor for athletic performance and injury prevention. Balance exercises are done usually on a foot on the ground or uneven surface to make it harder. Or you can add a ball toss to make it more challenging. Also, you can do a balance exercise on your knee instead of your foot. It is hard to put your knee down on a hard surface so try doing it on a balance pad or BOSU ball, etc. It challenges more of your hip muscles and postural stability than regular balance exercise on a foot. Pictures below show the knee balance exercise. This is another way to train your hip and core stability and proprioception. Again, balance is an important factor when it comes to performance enhancement and injury prevention!

Left knee balance with his left foot and right leg in the air.

Knee balance with ball toss.