A week into the new season and MLB already has too many pitcher injuries
Photo credit: https://www.mlb.com
After the third inning of Saturday's game against the Baltimore Orioles, Blue Jays pitcher Max Scherzer knew something was wrong. His thumb was acting up again. He ultimately pulled himself from the game and ended up on the IL. The very next day, Tomoyuki Sugano left his major league debut in the fourth due to cramping, although he is scheduled to make his next start.
It didn't stop there.
In the sixth inning of his start against the Jays for the Washington Nationals, Michael Soroka with bicep cramping. Three consecutive games, three starters leaving with injuries.
It's part of a wider within MLB. Pitchers are overthrowing, over-conditioning, over-preparing. The results is a spate of injuries.
The Blue Jays currently have seven minor leaguers and Alek Manoah recovering from Tommy John Surgery. At the Major league level, the New York Yankees got hit hard early. Gerritt Cole will miss the entire season and Luis Gil will be out three months.
Other recent injuries include Luis Garcia, Sean Manaea, and Reynaldo. And that's just since April 1st.
Now, certainly other factors such as environment, weather conditions, and pitching mechanics play a role, but these injuries are part of worrying, growing trend within the MLB, especially since 99% of the injuries are arm-related.
As baseball leans further into its analytical age, data is present at its fingertips like never before. With this comes changes to conditioning and metrics for evaluating pitchers, with an emphasis on power over form.
While certainly no one issue is to blame, it will be interesting how the league and specific teams move forward, especially with new CBA negotiations starting soon.
Thankfully the Blue Jays have avoided anything serious... so far.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 3 | 108 ANSWERS A week into the new season and MLB already has too many pitcher injuries Does MLB have a pitcher injury problem? | ||
| Yes | 91 | 84.3 % |
| No | 4 | 3.7 % |
| Too early to tell | 13 | 12 % |
| List of polls | ||
TRENDING NOW
