Across all levels of baseball, the pitching position has seen a spike in injuries. This rise is hitting the game hard, especially in the big leagues early in the 2024 season. Why are we seeing these injuries that are causing more pitchers to hit the shelf every day?
Enter the pitch clock
At the Major League level, many believe the newly mandated pitch clock is a reason to blame for pitchers consistently getting hurt. The game’s highest level put the pitch clock into effect in 2023. Pitchers have 15 seconds between deliveries to throw home with no runners on base. When base runners are aboard, the clock extends to 20 seconds for the pitcher.
The consensus around Major League Baseball is that implementing this clock has hurt the pitchers significantly by speeding up their pre-pitch process.
Baseball writer Bob Nightengale noted last year that the health staff the clubs employ certainly can’t be the issue when looking at the increase in arm injuries.
“Ballclubs have better and more knowledgeable doctors, trainers and physical therapists than ever before,” Nightengale said. “They’re equipped with the nation’s top medical researchers. They have the latest in technology.”
Teams are aware of how common these elbow injuries are becoming. In today’s game, there are probably more pitchers who have received Tommy John or some other kind of elbow surgery than those who have not. This spans across all levels of affiliated ball and into the collegiate levels.
A few experts at the game’s highest level believe that the injury rate that began to skyrocket a season ago could have been a few years in the making. The baseball season at the Major League level had an interesting wrinkle with all sports and the world shutting down four years ago due to the pandemic.
COVID’s impact
The 2020 campaign began in the middle of July. Players reported to a modified training camp in the beginning of the month. With this change in how the season was being conducted amid the pandemic, did things change at all? An International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy study found a spike in arm injuries in this time frame.
“Combined injury rates were similar during the Covid-19 shortened 2020 season among all positions compared to the 2015-2019 and 2021 seasons,” the study concluded. “By body region, the elbow was the most commonly injured body region in 2020 among pitchers, with the elbow demonstrating an increase in 3.5 times the rate compared to the previous five seasons.”
It’s interesting to find the increase we have seen in arm injuries across baseball. It’s important to note that this didn’t just begin in the past couple of seasons. Is the increase in injuries because of the pandemic? Or, is the pitch clock to blame?
Impact on college athletes
Injury rates aren’t as high at the collegiate level as they are in the show, though they still are rising. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) acknowledges that the shoulder and elbow lead the way in common injuries among athletes.
“The most commonly injured body parts were shoulder (16.1%), arm or elbow (16%), and hand or wrist (13.9%),” the institutes’ study found.
Compared to the professional ranks, collegiate schedules are much more spread out. This is to the benefit of pitchers across the country. Causing less strain on their arms over the course of the season allows them to stay healthier longer. However, some could argue that this doesn’t prepare these athletes for the big stage. This forces the issue of collegiate pitchers turning pro and hitting the shelf for extended periods of time.
How to prevent these issues
Even though many say there’s one specific way to keep your arm from abstaining from a significant injury, everyone operates differently. One of the biggest things experts and medical professionals always preach is to not just stress the arm when throwing. An article from Duke Health released back in 2021 further proves this point.
“The way to prevent elbow injuries is to avoid pitching with just the arm,” the article states. “Learning to use the muscles in the thighs, core, and back takes the strain off the elbow and leads to faster pitching and a decreased risk of elbow injuries.”
The recent rise in arm injuries across all levels of baseball makes this entry definitely outdated. However, it was written after the initial increase following the pandemic. While old reliable might not work the way it used to, pitchers are open to anything that can keep them on the mound and off the injury report.
