The thought occurs to me that Tommy John was not noted for being an exceptionally hard thrower, which may mean the surgery named for him (to be fair, and with no offense meant to TJ, it should be named for Frank Jobe) results from ... stuff happening.
Ozzie Guillen said the other day that a player was injured because he was too well-toned and said, "You can't pull fat." Ozzie is now my idol.
Well written piece Molly, and I too hope you are feeling better!
Sandy Koufax blew out his arm in what, 1966 or '67, and never pitched again. He was an average sized lithe man and a fine athlete. The risk in pitching at the MLB level has only increased exponentially since then, as has the monetized pressure that will not rest for Tommy John surgery.
I feel for these guys, and also think that Glasnow is right. We need to have a little allowance for "sticky stuff" for grip enhancement, not the full Gaylord Perry necessarily, but at least a little bit.
The pitch clock in tandem with the ever burgeoning pressure for velociraptor-esque velocity with breaks and bends that Euclid would find mind boggling, is all a tad too much
The velocity and rpm fetish is most certainly to blame. There is an obvious obsession. Multiple companies only exist to focus on these metrics and serve pitchers.
A more nuanced reason is likely that this generation of pitchers have been hyperfocused on baseball 12 months a year since they were 8 years old. How much more mileage is on their arms before throwing a single MLB pitch compared to 20-30 years ago? Kids are no longer allowed to be 3-sport star athletes: they are forced to choose one. The same muscle groups are pounded over and over by thousands and thousands more repetitions. When I was in high school athletes played two or three sports allowing the specific muscle groups to rest and rehab.
Parents are to blame. Youth baseball coaches are to blame. MLB scouts are to blame.
I presume that better batting analytics and scouting and the like has made it mostly impossible for a Greg Maddux/Tom Glavine type pitcher to have sustained success these days. Neither threw very hard, but figured out how to pitch to contact and use control rather than velocity. Bryce Elder made me think it was still possible for the first half of last year, but it appears that was the fluke that proved the rule. But it seems like as long the focus is on throwing as hard as possible every pitch, the injuries are bound to follow. It sucks, but I don't think there is one answer unless someone invents a bionic elbow.
Feel better, Molly! Excellent story and video from Glasnow. Seems like that might be contributing to more injures too. Pitchers trying so hard to have more velocity, spin, break and push themselves more in less innings seems most responsible. We’ll see what more we learn.
I think there is going to be a similar reckoning in golf, faster swing speed leads to longer distances the golf ball travels which leads to more torque on the back which will leads to more injuries and shorter careers. For baseball, do we want these players to throw with max effort and blow out their arms in 3 years or do want them to have a long, impactful careers? I hope for the latter of course but until there is more emphasis on "I don't care how fast you throw ball four", then I think pitchers may be doomed to be more like running backs than quaterbacks for career longevity (how many more sport anaologies can I cram into this???). Basically, I think we are reaching our max human athletic output in some ways so do we step back from the brink and have pitchers throw 90% or just chew up the pitchers and have them go through 2+ TJs? The MLBPA should be protecting the players, but the answer isn't the pitch clock, its max effort.
What’s so frustrating is the absolute randomness of it…college guys, rookies, high, velocity guys, high spin guys, veterans, low velocity guys, low spin guys, the list goes on and on, and it seems there is no single factor. It may require completely new techniques of throwing à la Mike Marshall in the 70s who has advocated for completely blasphemous ways of throwing and gotten nowhere.
The issue with ditching the pitch clock is that it seems like it has proven to be good for business and when you re-add those 30-40 minutes to games, it’s going to chase away the undecided fan (no offense to Molly or anyone else here, but if you are subscribed to The Long Game, you are not an ‘undecided’) and be bad for the bottom line, which doesn’t need help since it is extremely likely we are headed to a lockout and/or strike after the 2026 season.
I’m going to echo Joe Sheehan, who has been harping on this for years, something needs to be done about the pitchers themselves. An automated strike zone would be a small help, no longer have guys searching for zones that may or may not be there, depending on Angel Hernandez’s whims, but a major change to pitching needs to happen. There are people that are smarter than me that will figure out what that step looks like, but eventually someone needs to be the adult in the room.
Rest up, Molly. To me, it’s definitely the obsession with velo and spin rate. I think about how amazing it was when I was a kid to imagine Nolan Ryan pitching and we used to talk about how he could throw a ball faster than 100 mph and no one else could! Now it seems like every other day there’s a new bullpen pitcher somewhere throwing like 104. This can’t come without a cost.
It’s hard to understand what MLB is doing to its most marketable stars, aka stud starters.
The NFL has done everything short of wrapping QBs in bubble wrap and receivers can wear as much stickum as they can slather on to make the impossible 1 handed catch while upside down.
The NBA has made dribbling optional and really cut back on the hack-a-thons that plagued the 90s.
But no, the geniuses at MLB, let’s ask our top shelf pitchers to throw harder, more spin, less time between pitches, the slickest ball possible with no help and then pushing back when it’s suggested they could be doing better.
But then again there is nothing to suggest that the people running the game actually know what they are doing.
The exchange of blame the other guy press releases was very depressing. Each side had a chance to take the high road and each allowed the opportunity to pass. Stay classy, MLB!
Hope you are feeling 100% soon.
The thought occurs to me that Tommy John was not noted for being an exceptionally hard thrower, which may mean the surgery named for him (to be fair, and with no offense meant to TJ, it should be named for Frank Jobe) results from ... stuff happening.
Ozzie Guillen said the other day that a player was injured because he was too well-toned and said, "You can't pull fat." Ozzie is now my idol.
Feel better, Molly!
Well written piece Molly, and I too hope you are feeling better!
Sandy Koufax blew out his arm in what, 1966 or '67, and never pitched again. He was an average sized lithe man and a fine athlete. The risk in pitching at the MLB level has only increased exponentially since then, as has the monetized pressure that will not rest for Tommy John surgery.
I feel for these guys, and also think that Glasnow is right. We need to have a little allowance for "sticky stuff" for grip enhancement, not the full Gaylord Perry necessarily, but at least a little bit.
The pitch clock in tandem with the ever burgeoning pressure for velociraptor-esque velocity with breaks and bends that Euclid would find mind boggling, is all a tad too much
The velocity and rpm fetish is most certainly to blame. There is an obvious obsession. Multiple companies only exist to focus on these metrics and serve pitchers.
A more nuanced reason is likely that this generation of pitchers have been hyperfocused on baseball 12 months a year since they were 8 years old. How much more mileage is on their arms before throwing a single MLB pitch compared to 20-30 years ago? Kids are no longer allowed to be 3-sport star athletes: they are forced to choose one. The same muscle groups are pounded over and over by thousands and thousands more repetitions. When I was in high school athletes played two or three sports allowing the specific muscle groups to rest and rehab.
Parents are to blame. Youth baseball coaches are to blame. MLB scouts are to blame.
The pitch clock is not to blame.
I presume that better batting analytics and scouting and the like has made it mostly impossible for a Greg Maddux/Tom Glavine type pitcher to have sustained success these days. Neither threw very hard, but figured out how to pitch to contact and use control rather than velocity. Bryce Elder made me think it was still possible for the first half of last year, but it appears that was the fluke that proved the rule. But it seems like as long the focus is on throwing as hard as possible every pitch, the injuries are bound to follow. It sucks, but I don't think there is one answer unless someone invents a bionic elbow.
Sorry we broke you on our marathon Opening Day chat. Healing light and love to you
Feel better, Molly! Excellent story and video from Glasnow. Seems like that might be contributing to more injures too. Pitchers trying so hard to have more velocity, spin, break and push themselves more in less innings seems most responsible. We’ll see what more we learn.
I think there is going to be a similar reckoning in golf, faster swing speed leads to longer distances the golf ball travels which leads to more torque on the back which will leads to more injuries and shorter careers. For baseball, do we want these players to throw with max effort and blow out their arms in 3 years or do want them to have a long, impactful careers? I hope for the latter of course but until there is more emphasis on "I don't care how fast you throw ball four", then I think pitchers may be doomed to be more like running backs than quaterbacks for career longevity (how many more sport anaologies can I cram into this???). Basically, I think we are reaching our max human athletic output in some ways so do we step back from the brink and have pitchers throw 90% or just chew up the pitchers and have them go through 2+ TJs? The MLBPA should be protecting the players, but the answer isn't the pitch clock, its max effort.
If you’re exhausted give yourself a break please. Take an elevator instead of doing the steps.. hope you’re feeling better!
What’s so frustrating is the absolute randomness of it…college guys, rookies, high, velocity guys, high spin guys, veterans, low velocity guys, low spin guys, the list goes on and on, and it seems there is no single factor. It may require completely new techniques of throwing à la Mike Marshall in the 70s who has advocated for completely blasphemous ways of throwing and gotten nowhere.
The issue with ditching the pitch clock is that it seems like it has proven to be good for business and when you re-add those 30-40 minutes to games, it’s going to chase away the undecided fan (no offense to Molly or anyone else here, but if you are subscribed to The Long Game, you are not an ‘undecided’) and be bad for the bottom line, which doesn’t need help since it is extremely likely we are headed to a lockout and/or strike after the 2026 season.
I’m going to echo Joe Sheehan, who has been harping on this for years, something needs to be done about the pitchers themselves. An automated strike zone would be a small help, no longer have guys searching for zones that may or may not be there, depending on Angel Hernandez’s whims, but a major change to pitching needs to happen. There are people that are smarter than me that will figure out what that step looks like, but eventually someone needs to be the adult in the room.
I am quite confident it's the velocity and spin rate obsession
Pitchers pitched MORE innings with MORE pitches on LESS rest for years before this epidemic. To me it's clearly the velocity
Rest up, Molly. To me, it’s definitely the obsession with velo and spin rate. I think about how amazing it was when I was a kid to imagine Nolan Ryan pitching and we used to talk about how he could throw a ball faster than 100 mph and no one else could! Now it seems like every other day there’s a new bullpen pitcher somewhere throwing like 104. This can’t come without a cost.
It’s hard to understand what MLB is doing to its most marketable stars, aka stud starters.
The NFL has done everything short of wrapping QBs in bubble wrap and receivers can wear as much stickum as they can slather on to make the impossible 1 handed catch while upside down.
The NBA has made dribbling optional and really cut back on the hack-a-thons that plagued the 90s.
But no, the geniuses at MLB, let’s ask our top shelf pitchers to throw harder, more spin, less time between pitches, the slickest ball possible with no help and then pushing back when it’s suggested they could be doing better.
But then again there is nothing to suggest that the people running the game actually know what they are doing.
The exchange of blame the other guy press releases was very depressing. Each side had a chance to take the high road and each allowed the opportunity to pass. Stay classy, MLB!