Since the early 1900s pitch counts have been displayed in box scores. As arm injuries have been on the rise so too has the awareness of high pitch counts.

Innings limits and pitch counts were established by teams as a way to quantify the workload sustained by pitchers. Many have provided guidelines for both pitch counts and innings limits.

The issue we see with pitch counts or innings limits is they only display a small portion of the big picture.

When it comes to accurately determining fatigue every throw has a value. #EveryThrowCounts

No matter if its a light throw, or a higher intent throw, all throws have a value. All throws place a specific amount of stress on the throwing arm.

This study “Unaccounted Workload Factor: Game-Day Pitch Counts in High School Baseball Pitchers” showed that In Game pitches only made up for 57.6% of actual pitches in a game.

 

 

The important thing to note is this study did not include long toss or any extra work such as plyocare throws that have become prevalent in baseball today. Taking this into consideration we can assert that more than half of the actual stress received from throwing on a single day comes from throws that are not in game pitches.

This study also does not account for daily stress received in the day to day practice schedule. No matter how intense the throw, or the setting of the throw itself, we must remember all throws matter. #EveryThrowCounts

Let’s look at a quick example of how technology can help us with this issue.

Let’s say we asked you to walk 2 miles today. During these 2 miles we asked you to keep track of how many steps you took as well as the pace of each step. The question we are asking is how would you determine that?

Some would say they could count it and use a stop watch.

Some would say they couldn’t do it.

Taking a more simplified approach some would use a smart watch or some sort of wearable technology to track this information.

Throwing must be monitored the same way.

 

The Motus Sleeve is a wearable technology. It allows for the athlete to seamlessly place the sleeve on and track the stress of all throws as well as the total volume of all throws in a given day.

The simplicity of the sleeve allows the athlete to quote unquote “set it and forget it” all while appropriately collecting valued insights on each and every throw.