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Major League Baseball is dealing with a major issue right now where it feels like every day a new pitcher is going on the injured list (IL). Houston Astros pitcher Justin Verlander talked about the issues at length in an interview with KPRC 2 Houston’s Ari Alexander on Sunday, April 7.
Verlander speaking about the state of pitching and injuries said, “It’s obviously a pandemic and its gonna take years to work itself out.”
Verlander is in the middle of a rehab assignment as he ramps up to start his 2024 campaign. The ace said, “I think the game has changed a lot, it would be easiest to blame the pitch clock, in reality everything has a little bit of influence, the biggest thing is the style of pitching has changed so much, everyone is throwing as hard as they possibly can and spinning the ball as hard as they possibly can.”
Baseball is currently without a number of their pitching stars two weeks into the season to what feels like an unprecedented amount of shoulder, elbow, and arm injuries. The words Tommy John surgery seem to be thrown out almost every other day as teams and fans hold their breath.
At this point it feels like a matter of when, not if, a major pitching injury hits a team. Verlander said, “It’s hard to deny those results, obviously. How can you, it’s a double-edged sword, how can you tell someone not do that when they are capable of throwing 100.”
Pitch Clock Only Hinted at by Justin Verlander
Verlander was careful with his words and what he blamed as the reason for the injuries. The pitch clock has become an easy target for many as the increase injuries has felt like it increased since the new rule was instituted.
In order to increase the pace of play MLB put in place the pitch clock rule in 2023, which has drastically decreased the length of games that were approaching unreasonable times prior to last year.
However, some have wondered if the forced pace and lack of time between pitches a major factor in the increase of injuries is. As of right now, Baseball’s pitcher IL looks like it could be a list of Cy Young contenders, Gerrit Cole, Spencer Strider, Shohei Ohtani, Jacob Degrom, Max Scherzer, Sandy Alcantara, Shane Bieber and the list goes on and on.
The MLBPA put out a statement on the rash of injuries and stated, “Despite unanimous Player opposition and significant concerns regarding health and safety, the Commissioner’s Office reduced the length of the Pitch Clock last December… Since then, our concerns about the health impacts of reduced recovery time have only intensified.”
They also had choice words about how they felt that MLB was ignoring the effects of the rule.
Not Everyone Believes It Is the Pitch Clock’s Fault
Verlander acknowledged that the pitch clock would be the easy thing to blame but did provide alternatives that others have echoed recently.
Verlander focused much of the interview on the fact that major leagues, college kids and high schoolers are all trying to throw as hard as they can or get as much spin on the ball as possible.
Former major leaguer Cameron Maybin posted, “I’m tired of hearing about pitch clock being the cause of injury. Now I’m sure it plays apart but the game has made guys chase velocity because that’s what seems to get rewarded.”
A clip of Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow is recirculating talking about his injury as a Tampa Bay Ray being due to the crackdown on foreign substances. He said, “I 100% believe that contributed to me getting hurt.”
It feels impossible to blame one factor and is likely a combination of multiple rule changes, but MLB does need to address this “pandemic” because they cannot afford to keep losing some of their brightest stars.
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