When should my kid start pitching lessons?

This one comes up in the garage constantly, usually from a parent whose 8-year-old just got handed the ball in a rec game: should we be doing pitching lessons?

The honest answer: later than the anxious timeline running in your head, and earlier than never. Here's how we break it down by age.

Ages 7–9: throwing lessons, not pitching lessons

At this age the job is a good throw, not a good pitch. Clean arm action, using the whole body, hitting a target — that's the foundation everything else stands on, and it's built with catch play, not bullpens.

If a kid this age is "pitching" in games, what they need is simple: a repeatable delivery to the mitt and an adult watching their workload. What they don't need is a weekly bullpen routine, a velocity program, or anyone's opinion about their breaking ball.

Ages 10–12: the right window for real lessons

This is the sweet spot to start actual pitching instruction, for two reasons:

1. They're strong enough to hold a delivery. Balance, direction, timing between the lower and upper half — a 10-to-12-year-old can feel and repeat these. A 7-year-old mostly can't.
2. Bad habits haven't calcified yet. Kids who pitched for years on a made-up delivery arrive at 13 with patterns that take months to unwind. Catching the window at 10–12 means building it right the first time.

What good lessons look like at this age: delivery mechanics, fastball command to both sides of the plate, a changeup, and arm-care habits that travel with them. That's the whole menu.

On curveballs: our rule in the garage is fastball command plus a real changeup come first — for most kids that means breaking balls wait until 13-plus. A 12U kid with a big curve is winning games in the present by borrowing against the future. It's not worth it.

Any age: the red flags that mean stop

• Arm pain is never "normal soreness." Pain during or after throwing means shut it down and get it looked at. Every time.
• Pitch counts are real. Little League's limits and rest days exist for a reason — and they're a floor, not a target. Track them yourself; don't assume every coach in every game is.
• Year-round pitching is how arms break. Kids need a true off-season from the mound — a few months a year of not pitching at all. Playing other sports counts as arm care.

What we do in a first pitching session

Same as everything in the garage: film it, tell you the truth, send home a plan. We'll look at the delivery in slow motion, check arm action against workload, and show you both what's good and what needs work — most parents have never actually seen their kid's delivery at 120 frames per second, and it changes the whole conversation.

The first session is free. We coach young arms from Bonney Lake, Sumner, Puyallup, Lake Tapps, and around Pierce County.

Related: How much practice between games is actually enough?