Protecting Young Arms = Babying Them Too Much?
Today, Dan Graziano writes about handling young pitchers and what some Yankees have to say on it:
“People can talk all the way about how it was back in the day, but this is not the same game,” Cashman said. “Hitters are stronger. The mound is shorter. Pitches per inning have increased. It’s taking pitchers more to get through an inning than it used to. The most important thing we can do is study trends in the game and learn from the mistakes of the past.”
Those mistakes have produced data that shows that a rapid increase in a young pitcher’s innings from one year to the next puts him at risk for injury. Cashman cited Sports Illustrated writer Tom Verducci, who annually compiles a list of pitchers age 25 or younger whose workload increased by more than 30 innings over the previous season. Such pitchers, Verducci says, are at increased risk for injury in the season following the increase.
Yankees pitching coach Dave Eiland said a major reason for the restrictions is the long-term effect a rapidly increased workload has on the pitcher’s arm.
“The studies show that, for pitchers in their early 20s, an increase of X-number of innings will lead to problems, not necessarily this year or next year but five, six, seven years down the road, when they’re in their late 20s or early 30s,” Eiland said.
“You’d rather your organization have a plan for you than just say, ‘Go throw as much as you want, and if you blow out, we don’t care,’” [Phil] Hughes said. “You have to balance it — four or five extra wins this year versus maybe the 200 wins a great pitcher might get over the course of his career. When you look at it that way, it’s tough to argue.”
Maybe Cashman, Eiland and Hughes should read what Steve Treder wrote on this over three years ago. His summary:
Pitchers get hurt a lot; they always have, and 15 years into the era of significantly reduced workloads, they still do. If I were a major league GM, I would work on instituting a conditioning and pitcher-use program throughout my organization that would strive to develop starting pitchers capable of throwing at least 10% more pitches per season than the modern norm. I’m confident that in the long run such a program would provide a significant competitive advantage, without producing greater injury rates than are occurring now.
Food for thought.
I absolutely agree with Treder. By the time guys are in AAA, it’s too late. Conditioning needs to begin at the lowest levels. I think there are probably other factors that should be worked out as well.