Josh Sborz walked off the field last night with two outs and two strikes on Jose Altuve under his belt. He felt something in his shoulder and he left the game.
Yesterday was a harsh day for pitchers.
The Cleveland Guardians announced their ace righthander Shane Bieber will need to undergo Tommy John surgery. Then, a few hours later, the Atlanta Braves announced the same thing with their ace Spencer Strider. Earlier in the week the Miami Marlins learned their young starter Eury Perez would need Tommy John surgery. The Red Sox signed Lucas Giolito in the offseason, only to have injure his arm in spring training and need to undergo Tommy John surgery.
In an era when pitchers are babied and coddled, pitching injuries have increased, not decreased.
Now, the debate begins on what is causing the problem. Of course, as always, everybody will have a theory. Nobody will agree.
Yesterday, the player’s union blamed it on the pitch clock. Why? Because the league unilaterally instituted a pitch clock and the union was upset because, well, they didn’t get to negotiate it and get something in return for accepting the pitch clock. What they got, though, was a game that was so much more enjoyable for fans to watch, and a game that is thirty minutes shorter, which means, they have to be at work thirty fewer minutes.
Most Americans would have their pay docked if a change in their job required them to work fewer hours, not more. But the union’s job is to be a thorn in the side, always. The league, by the way, fired back saying they have a panel of experts at John Hopkins University looking into the issue and they have empirical data that dispels the idea of the pitch clock having anything to do with injuries.
You can always rely on a panel of experts.
There are as many theories as to what is causing the epidemic of arm injuries as there are experts.
It’s velocity. Because starting pitcher aren’t expected to go longer than five innings, they are encouraged to go max effort on every pitch, rather than pacing themselves for nine innings like pitchers used to do.
It’s the limitations of the human body. We have evolved at a place where throwing 100 miles an hour is commonplace. But a human elbow isn’t build for that.
It’s this recent infatuation with spin rates. Players are encouraged to throw breaking balls harder than they should.
It’s the pitch count mentality. Pitchers are not building up their arms anymore so they are not conditioning their arms to hold up to the rigors of major league pitching. It’s the same phenomenon that is happening with American kids. Parents are so freaked out about germs, they basically dip their kids in Purell every time they touch anything. Yes, we have germ-free kids. But we also have raised a generation of kids who get sick much more often because their immune systems were never allowed to develop. In coddling pitching arms, we have raised a generation of pitchers who constantly break down. Let pitchers pitch. Let kids lick their dog.
The theories are endless. But the reality is, this is the reason teams are smart not to give long-term contracts to pitchers. The Rangers gave a six-year deal to Jacob deGrom. They got six starts from him. Nobody can say for certain whether they will get as many as ten when it’s all said and done. Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery were seeking long-term contracts. What they found was a general manager population that is wising up. They got a bit more per year than they might have gotten, but only for one year in Montgomery’s case, and two in Snell’s. Going longer than three years for a pitcher is foolish.
So, the year of the pitching injury epidemic continues. But, don’t worry, a panel of experts is on it.
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