Pitching and Head Injuries: What You Need to Know

Are youth baseball tournaments that allow kids to swing powerful USSSA bats safe for pitchers? What are the risks of traumatic brain injuries from batted balls?

I recently heard about a 12U pitcher taking a ball to the head at a tournament and requiring emergency surgery where they removed part of his skull to reduce the pressure. Two weeks after the tournament, the kid is still in the hospital and might never be the same. I feel absolutely horrible for the kid and the family, and as the father of two youth pitchers, I worry it could happen to them.

I spoke to Dr. Alexander K. Li, Deputy Chief Medical Officer for L.A. Care, the country’s largest public health plan, about the brain-injury risks for youth pitchers.

Is It Really Safe to Pitch at USSSA Bat Tournaments?

You ever wonder why some tournaments make you sign a stack of personal injury waivers to enter? While baseball may be one of the safest sports in general, we may be overlooking a heightened risk of brain injury that occurs when the following factors are present:

• Puberty. As anyone who has a 12-year old knows, some players are big. It is not uncommon to see kids over six feet and brawny. Usually teams are lucky to have one of these kids, but the stacked summer tournament teams can resemble a juco squad with size from one to nine in their order. And I don’t know if I’m just not remembering correctly, but it seems like the “big” kids today are far more muscular than they were when I was that age, perhaps because of better training regimens.
• Smaller fields. The smaller 46-60 and 50-70 diamonds give pitchers less time to react to a batted ball as compared to the 60-90 fields kids start to play on in the fall of their 12U year. While the extra 10+ feet from home to the rubber might not seem like a lot, it often makes the difference on whether the pitcher can avoid a ball altogether or at least turn their head away in time.
• Loaded USSSA bats. There’s a reason Little League and other youth baseball organizations banned USSSA bats. They’re not safe in the hands of bigger kids with good swings. Balls explode off their barrels. When kids are younger, the issue of a juiced bat is usually one of fairness: a kid swinging one might get a double instead of a single. But with older kids, it becomes a safety issue for the pitcher and other fielders. And at some tournaments, kids are typically swinging the high end versions of these bats that have even more power.

When you take kids the size of grown men, have them play on small fields meant for Little Leaguers, and let them swing lightweight bats with massive pop, all of a sudden a safe sport becomes unreasonably dangerous.

One coach I know literally pulled his infielders at one of these tournaments and played them in the outfield, because he didn’t think it was safe to even play infield.

Dangerous New Phenomena

I’ve spoken to a high school coach and a former professional scout, who told me in all their years around the game, they can’t remember seeing one pitcher hit squarely in the head with a batted ball. Yet in the past six months, I’ve heard of three separate incidents of pitchers taking balls to the head in juiced bat tournaments.

How to Weigh the Risks of Baseball Brain Injuries

According to Dr. Li, parents should take seriously their role as guardian for their kids and consider the types of bats being used at a tournament. “Like if the field is not safe,” he said, “because it’s really wet or really hot, over 100 degrees, it’s not unreasonable to pull your kid from playing, and then let them play again when those conditions clear up.

“Like the weather,” he said, “the size of the other players, and the equipment being used, is part of the environment parents should consider when allowing their kid to pitch. Parents are allowed to make the call depending on the situation.”

He acknowledged that no sport is 100% safe and said parents or guardians should be aware of the conditions that their children play in as mentioned above. Overall, baseball is still a really safe game, he said, but kids should be taught and be aware of the safety concerns of the position they play and when they are at bat.

What Medical Precautions You Should Take for Brain Injuries at Baseball Tournaments

According to Dr. Li, the potential need for a onsite medical personnel that can deal with traumatic brain injuries is low in baseball. However, if there is a severe brain injury where a player gets hit by a line drive or a bat and the player loses consciousness or show signs of brain injury, then it is important that they be taken to an emergency room immediately to be evaluated.

Dr. Li said that tournament organizers should be prepared for both common as well as traumatic injuries and have a plan in place to rush someone to an emergency room if needed.

Why I Chose to Hold My Kid Out of a Baseball Tournament

My son was signed up for a big summer tournament, but after hearing of the latest pitcher to suffer a head injury we decided the risks just weren’t worth it and we pulled him.

To me, it felt like these tournaments are all about hitting lots of home runs at the expense of the pitchers’ safety. I wasn’t going to just let my kid be the deer at a deer hunt.

My son was really upset when I told him he couldn’t go, but he’s 12 and he’ll survive.