Arm injuries to pitchers in Major League Baseball have been an unfortunate part of the fabric of the sport for decades. We’ve seen high-profile stuff like Stephen Strasburg’s Tommy John surgery paving the way for a controversial shutdown the next season. In 2015, the Mets and agent Scott Boras publicly feuded about the best course of action, including innings limits or a potential shutdown, for Matt Harvey in his first season back from Tommy John as the team vied for a playoff berth. Every year, the list of pitchers out for the season seems to double.
The 2019 Cy Young winners, Justin Verlander and Jacob deGrom, both needed Tommy John surgery within the first few subsequent seasons. The 2020 American League Cy Young winner, Shane Bieber, went under the knife this past month. The 2021 AL winner, Robbie Ray is recovering from his own Tommy John. Ditto for the 2022 National League winner, Sandy Alcantara. The 2023 AL Cy Young winner, Gerrit Cole, is looking to return from an elbow injury he suffered in spring training. The NL favorite for the 2024 Cy Young was Spencer Strider of the Braves and, sure enough, he’s now recovering from major elbow surgery (internal brace instead of Tommy John).
We could keep going. The surgeries sure do. The entire sport, from professionals to teenagers, is feeling it.
“It’s been a 400% increase in elbow injuries in a 10-year span and there’s no end in sight,” injury expert Marty Jaramillo said recently on CBS Sports HQ.
“Why the rise?” he questioned. “It depends who you ask and everybody is right.”
Still, seeing so many top names go down this spring was enough to cause the outcry to be louder possibly than it has ever been, if we could measure such a thing. Not being able to measure things will be a theme in this discussion, too. You’ll see.
The continued surge of major arm injuries to pitchers this season got a little extra juice behind it when the MLB Players Association blamed the pitch clock.
Despite unanimous player opposition and significant concerns regarding health and safety, the Commissioner’s Office reduced the length of the pitch clock last December just one season removed from imposing the most significant rule change in decades.
Since then, our concerns about the health impacts of reduced recovery time have only intensified.
The league’s unwillingness thus far to acknowledge or study the effects of these profound change is…
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