I really don't know anything about pitching and I am coaching a group of 9U kids. The other coach pitched in college so he is good with mechanics and such but collectively we are in the gray area for a max pitch count for this age group. We have cut them off at 50 pitches, thinking that to be a safe number.

We only limit them to 20-25 curve balls per outing so not to put too much stress on the arm but I just wanted to check with some people that have been down this road before.

Just kidding about the curveballs, fastballs only(if that's what you want to call them) Wanted to see if people would even finish reading this post after something like that was thrown out.

You caught me Metro. My fingers were flying until I finished reading. Ha-Ha. I have no clue about those numbers but at that age I'd give many kids an opportunity to try. Mine got his first last night (9 yo) and well, let's just say he has a lot of work to do I'd also caution about outings. My oldest (14) would throw 50+ pitches one day (at 12U)and then throw again the next day because he had "innings" left. Knowing what I know now, I'd certainly limit outings as well.

Take a look at asmi.org. ASMI was founded by Dr James Andrews, the world's leading sports ortho specialist. There's a section on suggested pitch counts for all age groups. By the way ASMI could not find a correlation between a properly thrown curve and arm injuries. They attribute arm injuries to overuse.

One thing to keep in mind when coaching young pitchers is their physical maturity age may not be the same as their chronological age. Until a boy matures his physical age may be plus or minus three years of his actual age.

This is why you often see big horses smoking hitters in 9U and 10U, then don't succeed in 13U when they hit the big field. They were just way ahead of the physical curve when they started playing.

When my son was nine he pitched one inning a week. He was above average in height and normal in weight. I didn't see the importance in him being a 9U/10U pitching stud.