Pitch Smart:
Major League Baseball and USA Baseball have teamed up to help young players reduce arm injuries through Pitch Smart, a comprehensive resource for safe pitching practices. Pitch Smart offers a series of practical, age-appropriate guidelines to help players, parents and coaches avoid overuse injuries and foster long, healthy careers. The guidelines were developed as MLB and USA Baseball collaboratively pooled the recommendations of many leading medical authorities in the sport in conjunction with baseball officials.

PitchSmart.org serves as the program's online home and is accessible via MLB.com and USABaseball.com. The site offers pitch count and rest recommendations, statistics on Tommy John surgery, risk factors, awareness tips, published research and videos from experts, including Dr. James Andrews and USA Baseball's medical safety committee chairman, Dr. Glenn Fleisig. USA Baseball is fully compliant with the Pitch Smart program.

For more information about the Pitch Smart program, take the free introduction to Pitch Smart online course hosted by Hall of Fame Major League pitcher, John Smoltz, at USABDevelops.com.

Coach and Parent Education Resources:
As the national governing body for baseball in the United States, USA Baseball is proud to provide educational resources to all constituents within the game. The following outlines some of the programs available to parents, players, coaches and umpires. All USA Baseball Develops initiatives are free to all users and can be found at USABDevelops.com.

• USA Baseball Online Education Courses - The free USA Baseball Online Education Courses emphasize a culture of development, safety and fun within the sport through online training courses and programs focused for players, parents, coaches, and umpires. Content is offered in both English and Spanish.
• USA Baseball Mobile Coach App - Free to all users, the Mobile Coach App features the ability for baseball coaches at all levels to plan practices using drills supplied in the application through the practice planning function. The application is available through the Apple and Android application stores.
• Long-Term Athlete Development Plan - Developed by USA Baseball with support from Major League Baseball, the Long-Term Athlete Development Plan (LTAD) provides a multi-stage developmental pathway for an individual's life-long experience within the sport of baseball in the United States.
• USA Baseball Coaches Certification - Coaches Certification is an educational program for any and all individuals who are currently coaching baseball or aspire to coach at any level of the game. The program aims to create a higher standard of coaching education and enhance the ability of coaches to better serve their athletes, their team and the communities. Coaches Certification is for all members of the baseball coaching community, regardless of age, level, or experience.

These resources and many more can be found at USABDevelops.com.

Pure Baseball:
In February of 2018, Senate Bill 534 was implemented. This bill amends the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990 to extend the duty to report suspected child abuse, including sexual abuse, to certain adults who are authorized to interact with minor or amateur athletes at a facility under the jurisdiction of a national governing body. This bill also amends the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 to authorize national governing bodies to develop training, practices, policies, and procedures to prevent the abuse of minor or amateur athletes.

In response to Senate Bill 534, USA Baseball has developed the Pure Baseball initiative. Pure Baseball is USA Baseball's zero-tolerance policy for abuse of any kind in baseball. It is comprised of four areas - reporting, background checks, education and training, and minor athlete safety policies. This initiative ultimately seeks to eliminate all forms of abuse and misconduct in our sport.

For more information on Pure Baseball, please visit PureBaseball.org.