WEDNESDAY

EMBARRASSMENT IN BATON ROUGE

McNeese	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2
LSU	5	2	2	0	7	0	X	16	10	0

W: Kade Anderson (3-1) L: Caraway, Daelan (2-3)

CONGRATULATIONS, COWBOYS

What is the main source of pitcher injury?

I have written several stories on pitching injuries in the past twenty years. I witnessed many, many injuries to young pitchers in South Lake Charles over the years particularly at Barbe High School. I did all I could to protect my son from overuse until he got to high school. I made a huge decision during my son’s 12-year-old year in SLC All-Stars. He pitched on a Thursday and threw as hard as he could for about 15 pitches to close on Friday night in order to get to the state title game on Saturday. Our coaches were great and knew that I tried to protect my son’s innings. They called me into the hotel room on that Saturday and asked if it were OK that he start the championship game. I said absolutely “No.” Too many pitches in a short period of time.

Too many books have stated that it is not the inning pitched as much as the stress the pitcher is under. An easy game against an inferior opponent and the pitcher can glide through the win. Throwing all out is what is ruining so many young pitchers. David Clyde was throwing 95 at a Houston area high school when he was selected #1 in the draft. Texas was so hard up for fans, they rushed him to the Majors at age 18. He struck out five batters in a row throwing 96-97 mph. One year later, he was pumping gasoline.

Rockwall High School had a summer program, fall schedule, and a spring schedule. At age 14, my son Ryan was facing hitters that were 10th and 11th graders which forced him to throw at maximum speed. He ended up tearing a ligament in his elbow the summer of his sophomore year.

I went to the Texas Rangers surgeon for advice on what to do. He told me that it was at epidemic proportions due to kids overthrowing and being promoted too soon to varsity ball. My nephew was a star pitcher at Evangel, and I warned his dad to speak with his coaches. Ego was just too strong when the Evangel coaches promoted him as a freshman and allowed him to pitch against Barbe and West Monroe. He was throwing in the low 90’s as a sophomore and committed to LSU. He was done by his junior year and had two surgeries and never threw an inning at LSU.

I could give you several dozen examples of local pitchers who were rushed to varsity ball in Lake Charles and never had a career after high school. We will just leave it at that.

Major League baseball is going through a tough stage now with the largest amount of pitching injuries in MLB history. Last week when Texas played Houston, there were eight pitchers on the DL between the two teams. One of Houston’s star pitchers was placed on the 60-day DL last night.

Several orthopedic specialists hired by MLB teams were asked for their opinion. Here are their reasons:

Velocity. Throwing hard is a direct stressor on the elbow, and throwing hard has been shown to lead to injury by multiple studies over the years. One study found that fastball velocity was the most predictive factor of needing elbow surgery in pro pitchers. Every additional tick is more stress on the elbow ligament.

The bad news is that baseball, as a sport, is throwing closer to its maximum with every year. And yes, this is keeping the method of measuring that velocity constant; it has nothing to do with radar technology changes.

Justin Verlander on the rash of pitcher injuries: “…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…it’s a double-edged sword…I don’t have all the answers…when the balls started to change back in 2016 and started flying out…it changed how I had to approach pitching…I want(ed) swing and miss…I don’t know how we rewind the clock…the trickle-down permeates all the way to little league…I just hope that we don’t wait too long…it’s a pandemic and it’s going to take years to work itself out…”

There are several books written about not specializing in a sport that plays year-round. There is plenty of evidence that not taking a summer off, or a fall off has consequences. There is a lack of responsibility of coaches and parents in limiting pitch counts and amounts of days’ rest. One MLB coach told me out at Spring Training in Arizona that it starts in Little League with parents putting the best kid at shortstop or 3rd and pitching him every third of fourth day. He said the repeat throwing from short stop every day at practice and in games puts extra stress on the arm. He preferred outfield or first base for young kids throwing a lot. Many times, it does not catch up with them until high school.

Throwing closer and closer to the maximum

League maximum & average fastball velo (mph) by year in pitching tracking era

There is a chart which I will not copy that shows that in the past 15 years the velo has increased each year from an average of 89 mph to over 95 mph. There are many reasons for injuries such as mechanics, overuse, and throwing at 100% effort on every pitch. There will be high school coaches and parents who dispute these comments, but the proof is in the fact that Tommy John surgeries at all levels is up 360%.