Did the Pitch Clock Cause Pitcher Injuries?

Picture credit score: © Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports activities

We’ve proven that whereas pitchers (502 injured checklist stints in 2023) get damage extra usually than hitters (355 occasions on the IL), in addition they get damage worse. Hitters spent 13,142 days on the injured checklist final 12 months. Pitchers misplaced 32,107 days. Pitchers acquired damage 41% extra usually however spent 144% extra days rehabbing. Put one other means, pitchers accounted for 59% of injured checklist stints however 71% of days spent on the IL.

That’s in step with John Wholestaff’s Valentine’s Day article on pitcher accidents. (Sure, he’s an actual pitcher. Sure, that’s a pseudonym, clearly. No, we don’t know who he’s, don’t ask.) His level was that pitchers get damage rather a lot primarily as a result of, in his phrases, “The act of pitching is insanely traumatic on the physique, and anybody who performs it for any important period of time is certain to get damage indirectly.” That’s a ringing endorsement for the vocation, huh?

He goes on to dispel the easy explanations some folks cite for the uptick in pitcher accidents: Pitchers not utilizing their legs sufficient, throwing too onerous, and many others. You must learn the article if you happen to haven’t already. The hyperlink’s within the prior paragraph. He lays out a persuasive case.

Probably the most controversial assertion within the article, although, is that this one:

Now, if I have been accountable for making choices at Main League Baseball, and I have been conscious of the truth that pitching may be very traumatic and that muscle groups don’t work fairly so properly after they don’t have sufficient time to recuperate, I might most actually put a pitch clock in place. That’s, in fact, if I have been being bribed closely by Massive Orthopedic Surgical procedure. It isn’t but clear how a lot this explicit piece of the puzzle is contributing to the upper damage price this 12 months, however it’s actually contributing.

We are able to’t actually take a look at this. We are able to’t replay the 2023 season with no pitch clock and see if the damage counts are completely different, or if the accidents are much less extreme. We are able to solely take a look at what occurred in 2023 and evaluate it to prior years (whereas admitting that one season isn’t sufficient of a pattern). If accidents are up—or down—we are able to’t definitively level to the pitch clock. Correlation isn’t causation, as they are saying.