Many pitchers in their early teens find themselves in an awkward position.

Most have been pitching long enough that they want to do more than just throw it to the catcher as hard as they can. But they are young enough that they don’t want to injure their arms by throwing curves and sliders.

Baldwin Bulldog pitcher Garrett Cleavinger, 13, is not concerned with adding a curve or slider to his repertoire right now.

“No, I’m waiting until I get into high school,” he said when asked if he threw either pitch.

Cleavinger has been pitching for five years, and he wants to keep doing it. So he keeps it basic with a fastball and a change-up.

“A curve ball can mess up your elbow,” Cleavinger said. “If you want to play baseball for a long time you have to throw straight pitches when you’re young and you can mess with that later.”

Lawrence Lightning pitcher Cameron Solko agreed.

The 13-year-old said he probably wouldn’t start working on a curve or slider until he is 14 or 15.

“That’s when you should start throwing because your arm’s developed then,” Solko said. “You don’t want to tear anything at this age.”

A few years ago, Cleavinger started tinkering with off-speed stuff to compliment his fastball. Eventually he was able to develop consistency with his change-up. He said there is not much to making off-speed pitches work.

“You just have to get your grip right and your arm movement and your hand movement,” he said.

While Cleavinger keeps it simple, Solko mixes things up a little more. He said he throws two fastballs – a two-seamer and a four-seamer – as well as a change-up and a cutter. He started working on those pitches three years ago and has made them all part of his pitching arsenal.

The left-handed Solko said he worked hard to make the pitches work for him.

“It takes practice every day. I went out to the fields and practiced with my dad three, four times a week and just worked on the same exact pitches – one pitch a day,” he said.

During that process Solko found one pitching grip he couldn’t grasp.

“I tried a knuckle ball and that didn’t work out very well,” Solko said. “It hit about five feet in front of the plate.”

He said his hands are not big enough to utilize the knuckler.

“You have to have big hands,” he said. “You can’t throw it any other way.”

No matter what pitches they throw, young pitchers have to work relentlessly to hone their craft.

“It’s pretty hard,” Cleavinger said. “You have to put in a lot of hard work, and it’s tough to be out there on the mound and throw three or four innings.”

The defense behind a pitcher plays a big part in his success, Solko said.

“You have to practice a lot and you have to have good teammates,” he said. “You have to have good people in the field to back you up.”

Solko thinks that all his pitches are effective, and he throws whatever pitch will give an opponent the most trouble. “If they like to go after the ball, I’ll use a lot of off-speed,” he said. “But if they’re just sitting back and waiting to walk, you just go right to them with the fastball.”

As far as pitching goals go, Cleavinger keeps those simple as well.

“I like to keep runs under three in a game, and I don’t like to walk too many batters,” he said.

His counterpart Solko said he wanted to develop every day.

His goal: “Keep on developing so when I’m in ninth grade I can make a high school team.”

That is when these two lefties can start worrying about movement on their curves and sliders.