The Need for Speed

Hugh Atkins

Spencer Strider of the Atlanta Braves is out for the season after having surgery on his damaged right elbow. With so many big-name pitchers experiencing season-ending injuries, theories on the cause of the uptick in blown out elbows are running rampant, and many people are blaming the pitch clock.

I tend to believe that all elbow injuries likely are not created equal, and it’s possible that what caused one pitcher’s elbow damage may not be the same thing that caused another pitcher’s injury. But let’s just say that I’m skeptical that the pitch clock is the culprit in many, if any, of these injuries.

© T.C.G.

The most frequent reason people cite for blaming the pitch clock is that the pitchers now have less time to recover between pitches. Besides the fact that there isn’t enough data to support this claim, I remember pitchers in the past worked within the parameters of today’s pitch clock without there having to be a rule requiring them to do so. Pitchers also started more games, completed more games, pitched significantly more innings, and did it all with less rest between starts.

A more plausible explanation for all the elbow injuries is the emphasis on speed, which requires pitchers to throw more pitches at maximum effort. When Ferguson Jenkins, Gaylord Perry, Catfish Hunter, Luis Tiant et al. were tossing in excess of 300 innings per season they did not deliver every pitch as if they were trying to throw it through a brick wall.

The Marshall Plan

I believe poor pitching mechanics is also a contributing factor. A few years back, I spoke with former big league reliever Dr. Mike Marshall about pitching mechanics. Marshall, who earned his PhD in kinesiology, told me that one of the basic things to keep in mind with pitching mechanics, especially with young pitchers, was to make sure that during the windup, the pitching arm did not extend backwards across an imaginary line extending from the point at the back of the plate, through the center of the pitcher’s mound, to second base. Marshall believed that reaching too far back puts unnecessary stress on the shoulder, rotator cuff, and elbow.

A photo of Strider’s delivery is Exhibit A for why his elbow broke down. Strider had Tommy John surgery in 2019 but apparently did not change his approach once he recovered. If the engine in your car locks up because you ran it with no oil, and you run it with no oil after it has been repaired, then it’s going lock up on you again.

Spencer Strider Delivery

Another trend in recent years has pitchers standing sideways and beginning their windup by moving their free foot toward first base (for right handers) rather than standing square to the plate and moving their free foot back toward second base. This delivery requires pitchers to change the direction of their momentum mid-delivery.

Pitchers also may be suffering from TMI, especially with spin rates. I don’t imagine that Bob Gibson had any idea what his spin rate was, but he still managed to dominate major league hitters. In an effort to increase spin rate pitchers likely are gripping the baseball tighter on every pitch, which just adds to the stress on the elbow.

When all is said and done, I just don’t believe the human arm is designed to withstand the stress of repeatedly throwing a baseball 95 miles per hour or more.

I’m afraid the genie is out of the bottle as far as the emphasis on speed is concerned. Unfortunately, that likely means we can expect even more pitchers to miss major time with elbow surgeries.