Jesse Rogers, ESPN staff writer
Major League Baseball released a 62-page, year-long study on pitching injuries on Tuesday that identified factors contributing to an increase in arm ailments, including players taking the maximum out of games and games more frequently. While working hard, pursue higher speed and better “things”. Non-competition situations.
The study found issues arising at both the professional and amateur levels after interviewing more than 200 industry insiders, including “former professional pitchers, orthopedic surgeons, athletic trainers, club officials, biomechanists, player agents, amateur baseball interests stakeholders and other experts on pitching.” develop. “
The study makes a wide range of recommendations – including possible rule changes – to address the increase in pitching injuries. However, MLB said the study is just the first step in the process and more examinations are needed.
For example, tracking a pitcher’s workouts and workload from spring training to the end of the season is easier for research than during the winter, when players are largely on their own. This seems particularly important because research shows that injuries to pitchers, both minor and more serious, spike during the spring, suggesting at the very least that pitchers are not properly prepared for the start of spring training.
The study cited the deaths of Sean Bieber and Spencer Steed from Tommy John surgeries in March as examples.
According to the study, the league is concerned pitchers may be overworked in the offseason in an attempt to optimize “stuff” — a term that refers to “the combined motion characteristics of a pitch, including horizontal and vertical breakout and spin rate.” Sweepers are thought to be a relatively new topic causing this problem. Weighted ball training is also considered to require more research due to mixed reviews regarding its contribution to injury.
Most importantly, though, the study concluded that chasing velocity is the No. 1 contributor to pitching injuries.
“I think there are a lot of factors,” one orthopedic surgeon said in the study. “Without a doubt, if we take the simplest factor, which is fastball velocity, you can see that the average increase in fastball velocity exactly parallels the increase in injury incidence. If you could take one factor into consideration, it would be this one.”
The league also found that pitchers at the professional level are “at least somewhat aware” of the risk of injury but choose more dangerous pitches “because they believe the rewards outweigh the risks, especially in the short term.”
This thinking may trickle down to amateurs as well.
“We know pitching harder increases your risk of injury,” one pitching coach said. “That’s true on a population level. Now, for the vast majority of people on the planet who aspire to play professional baseball, the trade-off is worth it.”
Other influencing factors
In addition to basic issues like chasing speed and “stuff,” the MLB study also identified a number of tangential factors that contribute to the rise in injuries. They include but are not limited to the following:
Modern workload management strategies: Reducing workload to protect pitchers may actually lead to injury. Pitchers tend to work harder when they know they won’t be in the game very long.
“I used to pitch to catch the out,” one former MLB pitcher said in the study. “Now they’re going for speed. I have to play a chess game to get 24 or 27 outs. Now it’s a sprint to play as hard as you can for as long as you can. The starters have a reliever’s mentality now.”
The study specifically found a trend in “perceptions” that minor league players were unprepared for major league workloads. Inning limits, more rest between appearances and restrictions on pitching on consecutive days could have a negative impact on pitchers once they reach the major leagues.
“When do you have your first back-to-back?” one former pitcher wanted to know. “That’s in the major leagues. Same thing with three out of four days. They don’t get exposed to that in the minor leagues. If you’re not used to monitoring your warmup pitch, it can put a lot of stress on your arm. Big pressure in the bullpen, getting used to recovery after games and getting ready for the next day.”
train: Interestingly, experts are concerned that pitchers are deemphasizing cardiovascular and endurance training in favor of “power and strength-focused training,” which is more common in today’s game than in the past.
“In the past, starting pitchers did endurance runs, and now we do strength, short burst, sprint-type training, and that has changed,” one athletic trainer said. “Doing bursts of strength training and what I call anaerobic training is It’s okay. I always tell people it’s fine, but you need a base of aerobic capacity to do it… We do too much heavy lifting and I think that’s what we’re lacking.”
Past history: Research in this study shows that a pitcher’s injury history can predict future injuries. Research points out that as injuries to pitchers continue to increase and at younger ages, more and more players are vulnerable to re-injury in the amateur and professional ranks.
“We’re taking guys out of the draft right now who pitch year-round — we have first-rounders who have pitched year-round for three years,” said one Major League Baseball athletic trainer. “His wear and tear won’t be his first season in the majors, it’ll be the wear and tear of his first three years.”
Rule changes: The study is somewhat inconclusive because it involves recent rule changes that have led to injuries, including the creation of a game clock ahead of the 2023 season. Research shows there is evidence that pitching injuries have increased since the 1990s as the pace of the game has slowed (prior to 2023) and this is not a factor. In fact, a slower pace may actually lead to more injuries because pitchers actually need more time to throw their maximum effort. This may not happen as much with tone clocks. Additionally, trends in injured list rankings at the start of the season or spring training suggest the game clock has little to do with injuries, according to the study.
Coronavirus disease: Experts in the study believe the 2020 season shortened due to the coronavirus pandemic may have had a lasting impact on pitchers. The season’s “unusual” training routine may have exacerbated injury concerns over the past three seasons. The study suggests more research is needed to fully understand its impact.
Surgery progress: While medical advances have allowed some players to return to the mound as before, the study found that “misperceptions” about the surgery may give players a false sense of security. In other words, pitchers may be more willing to risk injury knowing they can always return from the injury while still earning major league salary and service time while on the injured list.
“They’re so confident in Tommy John surgery that they’re willing to sacrifice their elbow because they know if it ends up tearing, they can repair it,” one orthopedic surgeon said. “By the way, with the new procedure, Telling them that they can recover in half the time through this internal bracing phenomenon does nothing to help pitchers’ own perceptions of injuries.
“They don’t realize that 20 percent of guys get it and don’t come back. They don’t know that. They think it’s worth it and that’s what I have to do to be an elite pitcher and that’s what it takes every day Pitching 100 mph on the field, or doing my best on every pitch, taking chances, and if I get hurt, I’ll fix it.”
Amateur contributions: Chasing speed and “stuff” at a young age is also a factor in rising injuries among teenagers, the study found. Not surprisingly, the study also found year-round training and early sport specialization to be factors.
“The pace keeps going up and people are getting bigger and stronger. As they keep getting stronger, their ligaments don’t necessarily get stronger,” one orthopedic surgeon said. “I see a lot of kids. Some kids have the bones ripped out of their elbows because their growth plates are weaker than the ligaments. It’s not the ligaments that fail, it’s the bones that break. It used to happen occasionally, but it’s happening more and more now .”
Research shows that college transfer portals are considered a contributing factor. Schools may enroll children in their courses for a short period of time to maximize their performance during that time, rather than developing them over several years.
in conclusion
While further research is needed on the issue, the league understands that creating a system that “encourages or requires pitchers to be moderately active and exert submaximal effort deep into games may be more beneficial to pitchers’ health,” the report said.
Some experts recommend changing game or roster rules to alter training habits. For example, if a player or team is motivated to keep a starting pitcher in a game longer, he might drill differently—perhaps not giving his best effort on every pitch.
A smaller pitching staff will essentially require starters and relievers to pitch longer in games, which could again change pitching habits that could trickle down to the amateur level. Limiting the number of trades a club can make could be another way to force pitchers on the roster to adjust their training habits.
The overall goal, according to the study, is to create a system that “increases the value of pitchers’ health and durability and decreases the value of short-term, maximum-effort pitching.”
