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The Youth Baseball Arm Care Program, Age Band by Age Band

Arm care is the unglamorous half of pitching development: the band work, rest rules, and shutdown periods that decide whether a kid's velocity gains survive the season. This page is a complete youth arm care program separated into four age bands, and none of it is invented here: the routines come from the published Thrower's Ten series (including the Youth Thrower's Ten), the pitch limits come from MLB and USA Baseball's Pitch Smart guidelines, and the offseason structure comes from the American Sports Medicine Institute. Find your age band, print the program, run the weekly pattern. The free PDF and team tracking log are in the download section, no email required.

Flat illustration of a youth pitcher doing a banded shoulder exercise at the dugout fence while a coach observes

The three rules that outrank every exercise

Before any band work, the American Sports Medicine Institute's position statement for adolescent pitchers sets three rules that matter more than any routine:

A real offseason. No overhead throwing of any kind for at least 2 to 3 months per year (4 is preferred), and no competitive pitching for at least 4 months per year.
An annual cap. No more than 100 innings pitched in games in any calendar year, counted across every team the player pitches for.
Pain means stop. Elbow or shoulder pain is not soreness to push through. The player stops throwing and gets evaluated by a sports medicine professional before resuming.

ASMI also warns against a player pitching and catching for the same team, since the catcher's throw count quietly doubles the arm's workload. Everything below assumes these rules are in force.

The program at a glance

Age band	Routine	Resistance	Frequency	Daily pitch max
7-8	Shortened Youth Thrower's Ten, 1x10	Bodyweight or lightest band	2x per week	50
9-12	Full Youth Thrower's Ten, 2x10	Light band	2x per week + throw days	75 (9-10), 85 (11-12)
13-15	Full Youth Thrower's Ten, 2x10	Light band	2-3x per week	95
16-18	Standard Thrower's Ten, 2x10	Band and light dumbbells	2-3x per week	105 (17-18)

Ages 7-8: technique, not load

At this age arm care is movement quality, not resistance. The routine is a shortened selection from the Youth Thrower's Ten (Wilk, Lupowitz, Arrigo, International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy, 2021), performed with bodyweight or the lightest band available:

One set of 10 each: rotation work with the arm at the side, full can raises, lateral raises, low rows, biceps, triceps, the wrist series, and single-leg step-downs
Twice a week, 10 minutes, and the only coaching point is that the movements look right
Per ASMI, this is the age to learn throwing mechanics and keep the game fun: no radar guns, no breaking balls
For 6U and 7U, arm care is playing catch with soft balls; the tee ball coaching guide covers that first season

Pitch Smart limits for ages 7-8 (daily max 50):

Pitches thrown	Required rest
1-20	None
21-35	1 day
36-50	2 days

Ages 9-12: the Youth Thrower's Ten, as published

This band runs the full Youth Thrower's Ten exactly as published. The series was built around movement awareness, not just shoulder isolation, which is why so much of it happens in lunge and squat positions:

The routine: 12 exercises at 2 sets of 10 with a light band: split-stance full cans and lateral raises, partial-squat low rows and high rows, the modified robbery, side-lying external rotation, biceps, triceps, the wrist and forearm series, single-leg step-downs, and lateral slides
Frequency: twice a week, plus a two-exercise mini set (rotations and full cans) before warming up on throw days
The multi-roster trap: a pitcher on two fall rosters needs one combined pitch count. Per Pitch Smart, tracking across teams is where most violations happen
No pitching and catching for the same team

Pitch Smart limits (daily max 75 for ages 9-10, 85 for ages 11-12):

Pitches thrown	Required rest
1-20	None
21-35	1 day
36-50	2 days
51-65	3 days
66+	4 days

Ages 13-15: full prescription, full ASMI rules

The routine stays the Youth Thrower's Ten at 2 sets of 10, with frequency moving to three days a week in the offseason and two in season. This is the band where ASMI's rules bite hardest, because 13u-15u travel pitchers are the kids most likely to stack school ball, summer travel, and fall ball into a year-round throwing calendar:

The 100-inning annual cap is counted across every team, and somebody has to be the one counting
The multi-month shutdown is the program here; the band work just supports it
Any elbow or shoulder pain ends the outing and triggers an evaluation, full stop

Pitch Smart limits (daily max 95 for this whole band, with tiers shifting at 15):

Pitches thrown (13-14)	Pitches thrown (15-16)	Required rest
1-20	1-30	None
21-35	31-45	1 day
36-50	46-60	2 days
51-65	61-75	3 days
66+	76+	4 days

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Ages 16-18: graduating to the standard Thrower's Ten

Showcase-age pitchers move to the original Thrower's Ten series (Wilk et al.) at 2 sets of 10, two to three days a week:

D2 diagonal patterns, rotation work, abduction to 90 degrees, scaption, side-lying external rotation, the prone series, press-ups and push-ups, and the elbow and wrist work
The age-specific risk is the showcase calendar: ASMI ties injury risk directly to year-round throwing, so the shutdown stays in the program even when a winter camp invite arrives
The return from shutdown is a multi-week flat-ground ramp, not a first bullpen at full effort

Pitch Smart limits for ages 17-18 (daily max 105):

Pitches thrown	Required rest
1-30	None
31-45	1 day
46-60	2 days
61-80	3 days
81+	4 days

The weekly pattern

Every band runs the same seven-day shape:

Day	What happens
Day 1	Arm care routine (15-20 minutes)
Day 2	Throw or practice day: mini band set before warming up, post-throw checklist after
Day 3	Routine day (13-18) or post-throw checklist only (7-12)
Day 4	Arm care routine
Day 5	Practice or game day: post-throw checklist
Day 6	Throw or practice day: mini band set, post-throw checklist
Day 7	Full rest from throwing

And the year runs a four-phase arc, per ASMI:

Phase	What happens
In season	Routine 2x per week, pitch counts and rest tiers enforced every outing
Shutdown (2-4 months)	No overhead throwing at all; routine continues as the only arm work
Rebuild	Routine at full frequency, general strength work, still no mound
Ramp	Multi-week flat-ground throwing progression back to competitive innings

The post-throw checklist is four lines: log the count, run the soreness check (pain means stop), easy flush and gentle range of motion, and put the next eligible pitching day on the calendar before leaving the field. The one-page printable version is below.

PDFDownload the arm care program PDF

All four age bands in one printable: each band's weekly pattern, exercise list with sets and reps, the Pitch Smart pitch limit and rest table for that age, the post-throw checklist, and full source citations.

PDFDownload the post-pitching routine one-pager

A single page to run after every outing: the four-line checklist, the complete Pitch Smart rest table for ages 7-18, and an eight-row outing log. Print a stack and keep them in the scorebook.

ExcelDownload the Excel tracking log

A team log with one row per player per day: routine completion, pitch counts, required rest, next eligible pitching day, and soreness notes, plus the full Pitch Smart reference and each band's weekly pattern on their own tabs.

The printable arm care program page for ages 7-8: weekly pattern table, Pitch Smart rest table, and post-throw checklist

What about softball?

The rotator cuff and scapular work above is throwing-arm care, and it applies to softball position players making overhand throws just as it does to baseball players. Windmill pitching is a different motion with a different injury profile, and this page makes no claims about it; a fastpitch pitcher's care plan should come from a coach or clinician who works with the windmill motion. For everyone else on a softball roster, the age-band routines apply as written.

From printout to habit

The printable works. Its failure mode is the same as every printout: the routine happens for two weeks, then the binder closes. The band version of this program only pays off when players actually do it on the days between practices, and that is a tracking problem, not an exercise problem. Rizzler's player app assigns daily work and shows the coach who completed it, so "did your arm care" stops being an honor-system question, and the same account keeps pitch counts in the same place as the rest of your team's season. If you are building winter practices around this program, the practice plan guides cover the team side of the offseason.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is arm care in baseball?

The routine work that keeps a throwing arm healthy: rotator cuff and scapular strengthening (usually a Thrower's Ten variant), pitch count and rest day compliance, and a real offseason shutdown. It applies to every player who throws, not just pitchers.

How many days a week should a youth pitcher do arm care exercises?

Per the program here: twice a week for ages 7-12, two to three times a week for 13-18, plus a short band set before throwing on practice days. The exercises come from the published Thrower's Ten series at 2 sets of 10.

Is the arm care program free?

Yes. The program PDF, the post-pitching one-pager, and the Excel tracking log all download directly, no email or account.

How long should a youth pitcher rest after pitching?

It depends on age and pitch count. Pitch Smart's tables run from no required rest (20 pitches or fewer for ages 7-14) up to 4 required rest days (66+ pitches for ages 9-14, 76+ for 15-16, 81+ for 17-18). The tables above and the one-pager download print the full tiers.

Should young pitchers throw year-round?

No. ASMI recommends at least 2 to 3 months per year with no overhead throwing at all (4 preferred) and at least 4 months with no competitive pitching. Year-round throwing is the single risk factor their position statement hits hardest.

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