One thing that I  tell parents to do for their kid or their kid to be doing throughout their career, especially in high school, is to take time off after a season.  That does not mean completely stopping
all activity and engaging in complete rest for 3-4 months.  Rather, that means just taking time off from throwing.  Throwing on a mound or on a field is very high intensity activity.   Your shoulder and elbow need time to recover from the intensity of throwing.   So giving it three months to recover would be ideal for the next season. Again, resting your arm for a few months doesn't mean that you can't continue to train.  In the three months of no throwing, you can be doing different types of training:

• staying in the strength room
• conditioning
• playing a different sport
• develop different planes of motion that the player may be missing from baseball.

You really get the full development of an athlete in that time off by doing something else other than baseball. That is where you will start getting a lot more athleticism for that player.

Do professional athletes take time off?

Absolutely!  Professional pitchers take time off after the season. They're beat up after the season, and the last thing they want to do is continue to throw. So, they'll take a few months off from throwing. During that time, some of them don't even pick up a ball.  They do that so they are fully prepared for that next season when they do start to ramp back up.   

Nathan Denning, PT, DPT, SCS, CSCS, Nathan is the owner and physical therapist of Integrated Performance in Carmel, IN. He has extensive experience working with professional athletes including his time as a physical therapist and reconditioning specialist for the Minnesota Twins. He has rehabbed and trained hundreds of athletes from all organizations including: MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA, Olympic athletes, PGA, and members from our Special Operations.