Safety

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• Helmet should:

• Fit well and be appropriately certified for use. 
• Not wobble or be too loose. Do the shake test. 
• Be worn consistently, correctly, and be well maintained. 

• Finding the right helmet: CDCSAFE (Size, Ask, Fit, and Evaluate) Get a Heads Up on Helmets HEADS UP video 

• Specific Fact Sheets on Concussion page, but two key items:   

   1) A forceful bump, blow, or jolt to the head or body.   

   2) Any concussion signs or symptoms (See specific symptoms video):

• Assess the player, then assess them again later.
• Athlete is supervised for at least one or two hours.
• Talk to the player's parents about watching for symptoms. 
• If the signs or symptoms get worse, you need to consider it a medical emergency - Call 911.

   3) HEADS UP Four-Step Action Plan    

   4) Always Remember: When in doubt, Sit them out. 

• Wearing the right helmet: CDC GET A HEADS UP ON Batter’s Helmet Safety PDF

• Detailed on-the-field head injury response section coming soon.

Video above was made prior to implementation of the 2018 USABat Standard.

• Accessories: 

• It is common these days to see youth players wearing a batting helmet with a chin guard extension "C-flap" for more protection. Many MLB players are now wearing chin guard extensions (kids think it’s cool matching MLB players). More wire face guards, polycarbonate shields, and sports goggles with protective lenses like the ones in softball are being used. Some recreational baseball leagues require them while on the field. Pittsburgh Pirate Dave Parker was the first hitter to wear a face mask, but many different items are now worn. 
• Ordinary glasses are no substitute for protective eyewear and offer no protection against eye injuries.  
• Batters, pitchers, and other infielders should consider wearing mouth guards to reduce the number and severity of dental injuries – especially those wearing braces.  
• Keep Cool: Hydration is not the only factor. On hot and humid days one silent danger is raising body temperatures. Kneeling during breaks in play, taking hats off on the field during action breaks, and in the dugout (take fielding and batting gloves off too), and staying in the shade when possible are all helpful to lowering body temperatures.  

Players can easily harm others by not controlling their throws. There are several key steps to increase ball safety:

• Control Your Throws: Never throw a ball without the receiver looking at you. Look first to make sure your teammate is looking at you, then throw.

• Stay in line during warmup toss: One of the easiest ways to hit a teammate with a ball is not following simple safety practices during warmup toss sessions.

• Start warmups by tossing at an easy distance (i.e., 15 – 20 feet). After a few minutes warming up and then 5 or 10 catches in a row (make it a competition), move all players back 10 yards at the same time and repeat.  
• Avoid hitting each other by working as a group and staying in line with a safe amount of space between teammates on both sides to help everyone avoid errant throws.  
• If you miss a throw, make sure you look and don’t cross into balls tossed near you while retrieving the ball. Don’t throw from where you retrieve the ball. Return to your original position before resuming warm-up toss.  
• No showboating which can lead to senseless injuries, lost play time, and hurt feelings. 

• Integrate ball throwing safety into between inning warmups:

• Only pitcher, 1ST baseman and center fielder should take a ball out to the field. Often a bench player will warmup toss with the outfielder closest to their dugout. 
• All balls should be safely returned through the baseman (1ST or 3RD) closest to the team's dugout to minimize criss-crossing throws over other infielders and wild throws hitting coaches and opposing players.
• Coaches should be mindful of errant throws during warmups sailing into the dugout or hitting them as they walk to 1ST and 3RD coaching stations. Travel league coaches who often sit outside the dugout have to be more aware.

• Safety Baseballs. Many variations on balls for youth baseball. Some are referred to as Reduced Injury Factor (RIF) balls. Safety balls are softer than regular baseballs, can have raised seams making the ball easier to grip, and should be used for practices and games at lower levels (Tee Ball and Single A) and strongly considered for higher levels.

• National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment: Standard no. ND027 has three types of ball (Low, Medium, and High) designated for children with the lowest, moderate and advanced skill levels. Leagues determine the balls best suited for their organization.

• USABat Approved Tee Ball List

• Parents should consider using safety balls at home, especially with younger siblings around, since they can help reduce injury severity and as an added bonus - less damage to property.

Safer Baseball Safety Target Symbol Stamps serve as an external cue  reminding players to handle balls safely. Always control your throw.

Pitching and Catching: Few keep track of catcher throws and that should change. Safer Baseball wants to start a new safety monitoring trend. If your catcher also pitches, start tracking the number of throws back to the pitcher and bases and consider switching to a different position if necessary. Some leagues monitor catcher innings but tracking number of throws (including throws to bases) is more accurate. The pitching chart above limits 9/10-year-olds to 75 pitches a day (Little League guidelines) and 50 pitches a day (ASMI guidelines). Whichever guidelines your league uses, if the pitcher gets close to the maximum, or pitches multiple innings, it’s not smart to then have them switch to catching for the next two innings. Better to space out activities by giving their arm a break with some time at another position. Safer Baseball is developing recommendations in this area. Practice caution and protect youth arms by minimizing overall throws as much as possible and prioritize rest during a game, week, and season.

As stated below by the ASMI, the pitcher-catcher combination needs to be avoided in the same game. Knowing many pitchers do catch, coaches need to consider ASMI’s recommendation, limit the combination as much as possible, and most importantly strictly monitor combined activities and certainly follow league and organizational rules.   

• Review Little League rules on pitcher-catcher combinations. In general, There is no limit to the number of pitchers a team may use in a game. Exception: Any player who has played the position of catcher in four (4) or more innings in a game is not eligible to pitch on that calendar day.

Key considerations: 

• Pitch counts matter for both positions. Innings extended with a lot of pitches, have both the pitcher and catcher throwing more so closely monitor the activity of each role.  
• Keep combined activities in a game to a minimum and separate the roles with at least one inning at a different position (e.g. outfield to take a break from constant throwing and give arm muscles and ligaments a break.  
• Over specialization can also lead to injury. Allow young players to play all over the infield and outfield to protect knees and arms from too much catching and pitching and produce overall athletes. A burning desire to work behind home plate may morph into a love for diving after balls in the outfield. Let them find their passion!

American Sports Medicine Institute Position Statement for Adolescent Baseball Pitchers (Updated April 2013)

With the rise in elbow and shoulder injuries in adolescent baseball pitchers, the adult community needs to take steps to prevent these injuries. Research points to overuse as the principle risk factor. Poor pitching mechanics also contribute to injury risk. Another suggested risk factor is poor physical fitness.

Throwing curveballs has been suggested as a risk factor, but the existing research does not support this concern. However, an adolescent pitcher may not have enough physical development, neuromuscular control, and proper coaching instruction to throw a curveball with good mechanics. Throwing curveballs too early may be counter-productive, leading to arm fatigue as well as limiting the youth's ability to master fastball mechanics.

• Watch and respond to signs of fatigue (such as decreased ball velocity, decreased accuracy, upright trunk during pitching, dropped elbow during pitching, or increased time between pitches). If an adolescent pitcher complains of fatigue or looks fatigued, let him rest from pitching and other throwing. 
• No overhead throwing of any kind for at least 2-3 months per year (4 months is preferred). No competitive baseball pitching for at least 4 months per year. 
• Do not pitch more than 100 innings in games in any calendar year. 
• Follow limits for pitch counts and days rest. 
• Avoid pitching on multiple teams with overlapping seasons. 
• Learn good throwing mechanics as soon as possible. The first steps should be to learn, in order: 1) basic throwing, 2) fastball pitching, 3) change-up pitching. 
• Avoid using radar guns. 
• A pitcher should not also be a catcher for his team. The pitcher-catcher combination results in many throws and may increase the risk of injury. 
• If a pitcher complains of pain in his elbow or shoulder, discontinue pitching until evaluated by a sports medicine physician. Inspire adolescent pitchers to have fun playing baseball and other sports. Participation and enjoyment of various physical activities will increase the player's athleticism and interest in sports.  

Additional protective equipment (forearm sleeves, wrist and thumb guards, and knee savers) for catchers. A thumb guard can help mitigate impact from getting bent back in the glove and help prevent or recover from thumb sprains. Knee savers, designed to provide support and comfort and reduce stress on knee joint cartilage while squatting, help catchers pop up quicker and save the legs during long innings and hot days.

Catcher's gear that fits. Due to budget constraints, recreational leagues often only provide one set of catcher's gear. Delays caused by clips coming undone or awkward movements by your child while catching are easy identifiers of too large or small catcher's gear. If your child is larger or smaller than peers, try to find additional options to increase your aspiring catcher's safety, confidence, performance, and enjoyment of the position.

Players on recreation and travel leagues, as well as end of season select or all-star teams, need to tell each manager about their pitch counts. Catcher throws (and innings) are key too since they put additional stress on the arm. Managers should be aware of their pitchers and catcher’s activities (at least 24 hours prior to their next game or practice) so they can plan properly. Since managers on these various teams often have little or no contact, parents need to log pitch counts (and catcher throws) and ensure each coach is fully aware of their child’s arm activity. Independent travel tournaments often have no or different pitch limit rules (i.e., inning, not pitch restrictions) and rest periods. To avoid the risk of an overuse injury to their elbow or shoulder, and reinforce the importance of coach-player communication, parents need to assertively monitor pitch counts, catcher throws (and innings) and days of rest while participating at these events.  

• Identifying and Preventing Abuse: It’s far from a new problem, but responsible organizations are taking huge steps to protect children from predators. USA Baseball has taken a lead role and is doing to great job of making baseball a safe environment for kids across the country by providing free access to dedicated programs. USA Baseball’s SafeSport program provides a free Online Parent Toolkit to give you the necessary information for your young athlete and help understand and how to respond to signs of abuse. Parents can even access age specific online training at no cost. Simply create an account and you’ll be able to access the training. In late 2018, USA Baseball launched Pure Baseball as its zero-tolerance campaign for any type of abuse within the sport of baseball. Visit PureBaseball.org to learn more about how your league volunteers can be screened and trained and how a national registry of ineligible participants (offenders) has been created to track offenders.

• Social Media & Privacy: One of the greatest hazards of youth today are the electronic devices that can instantly promote and permanently impact/scar a child based on online harassment or broadcasting an embarrassing moment in their young lives. Baseball is a team sport made up of individual performance. Errors and mistakes are part of the game. Posting video of a missed grounder, tripping over a base, striking out at a critical juncture of the game may be innocuous to most people but emotionally scarring for others. Please be cautious and strongly consider how you might feel if the video or image you are posting to social media sites featured you (or your child) instead.

• Undue Pressure on Players: Especially for young players and any new entrants to the game. Baseball and softball are sports, but they are just games to raise the spirits and joy of all participants. 

• Competitive aspects increase as players rise through the ranks. But if a child is pressured to play or ridiculed based on their performance, the most likely outcome is they will quit. One wonderful aspect of coaching is seeing the light come on or a significant increase in performance by players who were originally slow to grasp the skills or strategies. There are few rewards greater in coaching than seeing a child realize a love for and dedication to baseball once they “get it.” Make sure to prioritize enjoyment and participation to help your child determine their own desire for and success in the game. 
• Cheering and supporting your player are key to team spirit. But are you the only parent shouting at your child on each strike at the plate, wild pitch on the mound, or missed grounder or fly in the field? Is your child looking at you or their coach for direction after they Tomahawk swing or are swinging too early or late. Calm your child at the plate by knowing when he hears your voice it’s to celebrate a great performance, not to point out a brief challenge. 
• Let their coach be the one who provides in-game instruction and ways to help the team. You will have plenty of time on the drive home or over dinner to let your child describe what happened and how you can help. We’re all sure you wouldn’t want your child pointing out how you forgot to use your turn signal or missed a turn while you were late and nervously driving to the game during rush hour traffic. 

• Correctly Sized Gear: Sports participation today requires investment in proper equipment, footwear, and? Often, players have the wrong size equipment because it is available, a handy down from a sibling or neighbor, belonged to a favorite relative, players get used to a glove or bat and don’t want to change, child is growing rapidly, or the item can be too expensive for the parent to replace. Your child’s ability to play the game correctly due to too small or too large a glove, bat, catcher’s gear, cleats, etc. is also key. In fact, many experts attribute poor throwing habits and even arm injuries to young players using gloves that are too large. Try flipping a pancake while holding a bowling ball in the other hand…For both safety and performance, try to ensure your child uses correctly sized equipment and accessories. 

• Emergency Injury Treatment: Unfortunately, injuries do occur on the field of play. It’s not an if, but when and how severe, an injury. Coaches are required to have ice packs and First-Aid kits at all practices and games. Seeking evaluation and treatment by a medical professional is always the best choice, but what is your plan in the first 15 minutes? Safer Baseball highly recommends assigning a team parent, hopefully medically trained, to act as a lead when injuries do occur. Coaches are asked to be many things but having a parent (and a backup if possible since parents don’t attend every practice and game) who is medically trained and can fully dedicate all attention to the injured player is beneficial to all. 

• STOP (Sports Trauma and Overuse Prevention) Sports Injuries provides information on injuries that are common to multiple sports. Check out their very helpful Sports Specific and Injury Specific Tip Sheets. Consider printing out some of the items and including them in your Team Binder that includes the mandatory player Medical Release forms and kept on hand at all practices and games.

• Double Wide First Base: Will youth baseball mandate the double wide first base used in softball? Decreasing the chance of collision (1st baseman and batter running to the base) is the primary benefit. Another factor is making the throw slightly easier for the other infielders (increasing their confidence) and making it easier for the 1st baseman to catch the ball cleaner with the likelihood of less contact with the baserunner.