Every fall, when the last inning of fall ball wraps, pitchers face the same fork in the road: shut it down or run an active recovery plan. Like most pitching questions, the honest answer is “it depends.” No two pitchers have the same season, body, or history—even compared to their own last year. The right move is individual.
Shutdown vs. Active Recovery: What We’re Really Talking About
What a full shutdown does
Your body adapts to the stress you put on it. Soft tissue (tendons/ligaments) organizes along lines of force—Davis’s Law. Take all the stress away for too long and tissues lose that organization. Then January shows up, you ramp intensity, mechanics have drifted (especially if you lifted hard without throwing), and now you’re slow to ramp—or your arm gets cranky right when the volume climbs.
Yes, a shutdown can let things calm down. But long stretches without any throwing can lead to disorganized tissue and rusty movement patterns. That’s when compensations sneak in.
What active recovery is (and isn’t)
Active recovery = decompression without deconditioning. Think: “take the arm for a walk.” We reduce volume and intensity, keep tissues organized, and keep the throwing pattern alive while we address mobility, mechanics, and strength.
At Skolfield Performance, we run active recovery in the month after fall ball ends, then transition into our winter throwing progression.
How We Split It by Age
Ages 16 and up (more skeletally mature)
Three throw days per week (Mon/Wed/Fri) to match strength work. Sessions are short, targeted, and consistent:
- Mobility & Activation (20–25 min): Full-body, not just arm care. Hips, T-spine, ribcage, scapular control—everything that supports a ballistic throw.
- Light Catch / Plyo Drill Work (Mon & Fri): Individualized to your mechanical gaps. ~20–25 throws @ 50–60% RPE. Groove patterns, don’t chase numbers.
- Long Toss—Out Only (Wed): Slight bump in volume/intent to “remind” the arm it still throws. ~25–35 throws @ 65–75%. We go out, not in.
- Reactive DNS / Flow Drills: Waterbag/perturbation and developmental patterns to build freedom of movement. Less thinking, more clean, reflexive sequencing.
- Post-Throw Reset: Arm care + soft-tissue + rebounders to restore motion even after light days. Protects the next lift and the next throw.
Ages 13–15 (still developing)
Here we split based on whether you played fall ball.
- Didn’t play fall ball: Throw 2x/week @ 50–60% RPE. Goal: keep tissue organized through growth spurts—not hibernation. Mix in a football at times; its shape/weight encourages a shorter, tighter arm action and often spares the elbow/shoulder from unnecessary stress.
- Did play fall ball (March → Fall): One of the few cases I support 3–4 weeks completely off from throwing. Not just the arm—give the brain a break. At this age, there’s more to life than throwing 12 months a year. Come back fresher.
Bottom Line
Active recovery doesn’t mean “throw more.” It means don’t erase your progress while you prep the body for the winter workload—volume, frequency, and intensity.
If you’re absolutely smoked after a long year, a short shutdown can be smart. If you’re banged up in specific ways, we’ll target those first. Either way, the decision is personal and should be made with a coach who understands your current tissue status, mechanics, and training history.
Our job is simple: get you pain-free, moving clean, and ready to attack your off-season with a plan that fits you. Want me to look at your situation and map the right option—shutdown or active recovery? Book an evaluation and we’ll lay out your plan, no fluff. Click here to begin with a phone consultation
Skolfield Sports Performance • Saco, Maine