The Pitching Pandemic
Over the last ten years, a growing problem has manifested throughout baseball and is negatively impacting pitchers at every level, creating a pandemic in baseball of pitching injuries. This pitching pandemic of injuries, well documented several years ago by Jeff Passan's The Arm, continues to grow at all levels but is becoming increasingly more concentrated in youth pitchers.
Although well documented, the injuries have been downplayed and considered the new norm as the private sector fuels a pitcher's desire to obtain high velocity and achieve max performance. Major League Baseball has validated this desire by the number of pitchers who can reach triple digits with their fastball.
As it should, baseball is evolving. The requirements to pitch at the highest level will continue to increase but doesn't need to result in hundreds of youth pitchers getting surgery each year due to a throwing related injury.
The best way to explain how this cycle of injuries amongst pitchers occurs is to understand a baseball pitcher's life cycle, how it has shifted, and the role the private sector plays on the health, performance, and careers of pitchers. An increased risk of injury does not have to be the new normal. Instead, understanding the ideal life cycle of a pitcher and how the importance of a sound training methodology leads to a greater chance of long term health and success.
IDEAL LIFE CYCLE OF A PITCHER
A pitcher's ideal life cycle could also be considered the traditional life cycle of a pitcher, centers around the season, and game performance. This life cycle was naturally created for us years ago by transitioning from one sport to the next during the calendar year and lack of playing options or demand to extend playing outside of the season. A youth pitcher typically would finish his season by August and would shut down before school started in the fall. Not far behind, an MLB pitcher would shut down in October and resume play in Spring Training.
THE SEASON
Regardless of level, most pitchers will perform in a game situation between March and September, as indicated in the dark green shaded area in the graph below. College programs may start earlier, and the MLB Playoffs extend into November but traditionally, the bulk of games pitched by a pitcher happen during the season.
During this phase, a pitcher will compete for roughly seven months out of the year at max intensity. The body and arm will need to properly recover between outings to facilitate a pitcher's ability to be healthy and succeed at an optimal level, all the while using his arsenal to get hitters out.
THE OFF-SEASON
Once the season concludes, a pitcher must reflect on his season to prepare for the upcoming Off-Season phase. The off-season provides ample opportunity for a pitcher to gain a competitive advantage for the next season. To properly formulate an effective strategy for the off-season, a pitcher must first ask himself a series of questions about his previous season. The questions below are just a guide but can be used to formulate an off-season strategy.
Did I have to miss any time due to injury?
Was I frequently sore in my throwing arm after a game?
Did I have pain in my throwing arm during the season?
Was my performance in games consistent or inconsistent?
Did my velocity increase, decrease, or stay the same throughout the season?
How do my current ability, arsenal, and performance compare to my teammates?
Was I asked to pitch in multiple back to back games?
Did I notice any patterns in my performance?
The list of questions can continue, but the main point is identifying a few core strengths and weaknesses from your season that you want to address as you head into your off-season. Most of the strengths and weaknesses you will address can be placed into three areas; function/health, skill, and performance.
Inevitably, after a pitcher chooses his plan moving into the off-season, a recurring question surfaces of how much throwing is acceptable during this period? The answer is simple; you can throw so long as it is a sub-max intensity and avoid situations where you must throw at max intensity, especially games. During the off-season, a pitcher can throw to keep his body and arm active and continue to work on his pitching skill but not have to be ready to pitch in a game.
THE PRE-SEASON
As the off-season winds down and the pre-season period begins, a pitcher will want to determine his season's start date. The start date of the season should help build and plan the pre-season throwing, strength & conditioning, arm-care, and mobility programs that should work together to prepare a pitcher for the season.
During the pre-season, a pitcher's throwing volume, intensity, and bullpens should scale to simulate a recovery cycle that will help him tolerate the upcoming season's demands. As the season's start date approaches, the pre-season period wraps up. During the season, a pitcher's program should involve the necessary facilitation to be available and achieve success in games.
LIFE CYCLE OF A PITCHER IN 2020
Roughly twenty-five years ago, AAU & travel teams emerged for the best players in a region to compete against one another and challenge themselves outside of the traditional Little League. The teams were few and far but represented a new culture of players, parents, and coaches pursuing higher-level competition. This emergence eventually led to showcase teams throughout states that gave birth to the more massive elite travel tournaments we see today. The intent was pure, to help baseball players advance their development and advance to the next level, whatever that may be. As years passed, the volume of travel teams/organizations and tournaments rapidly increased, paving the way for teams to play in more games past the regular season. Little League Baseball has become an afterthought as any baseball player with ability has been fueled to believe travel baseball, especially at younger ages, is the key to success.
Ten years ago, baseball's entire game experienced a boom in technology, analytics, and player development. This boom set up another emergence of businesses in the private sector, all set to enhance player performance. Now, the thousands of travel teams and players have an outlet to increase their strength, speed, skill, and performance. Players have become more prominent, faster, stronger, and capable of reaching new heights in performance measurements.
The cycle of obtaining optimal performance never stops. The private sector generates millions of dollars from extending players' desire to perform past the season and into the off-season and now has become the life cycle of a pitcher in 2020.
The growth of specialization to achieve optimal performance in the off-season combined with year-round playing options is the root of the pandemic of pitching injuries in baseball. The most powerful billboard message from the private sector towards pitchers is "you must throw hard, and do whatever it takes, to create an opportunity to play at the next level." There have never been more pitchers armed with average arm talent lined up to sacrifice health at all costs to achieve the big fastball's mirage. This message is the definition of performance across the baseball culture for a pitcher in 2020.
What's lost in this performance quest in 2020 is achieving success as a baseball pitcher in a game. Until baseball changes the rules and allows pitchers to run as fast as they can toward home plate, pulling down the ultimate pitch, a pitcher needs to be successful in games. The success in games, especially for consecutive seasons, is becoming lost. The "pitch to contact" pitcher, the pitcher you can rely upon to throw strikes, move the game along, give the bullpen a break, is becoming a dying breed. This doesn't mean the pitch to contact pitchers can't throw hard, but the notion of what's required to pitch in 2020 has shifted to throw hard and miss barrels.
At some point, and that point is becoming faster and faster, the desired performance outweighs the throwing arm's tolerability and breaks, forcing the pitcher to rehab, miss time, which negatively impacts their long-term value. If performance is held on a pedestal compared to health, function, and skill, more injuries are likely to occur for an extended period. Overall, success across multiple seasons, especially at the MLB level, will result in a massive payday. A payday is only an option if a pitcher has a process of health, function, and performance.
By and large, all businesses want their pitchers to achieve optimal performance, success in games, and stay healthy. One businesses' idea of developing a pitcher may be drastically different from another, creating competition and confusion on what's right vs. wrong. As a parent of a youth pitcher, you have never had more opportunities to help your child. You want to provide the resources to match their desire to perform, but how do you know if you lead them closer to an injury?
Every week, I see and hear stories of youth pitchers falling victim to injury, overuse, and lack of success in games. It's sad, but I believe both pitchers and parents don't understand the problem or how to navigate through it. This year, the COVID situation illuminated the problem by forcing the vast majority of baseball on the sidelines except for travel baseball. As soon as one state opened up, tournaments started, travel teams flocked to play baseball, all armed with pitchers not ready to pitch in games.
Overall, I believe we are approaching a tipping point within the game of baseball. The values manifested over the last ten years will become questioned and under the microscope regarding pitchers' health and function. Injuries are expensive and negatively impact a team's success and the health and psychological impact on a pitcher. For example, in 2019 the Chicago Cubs had a combined 904 days missed by their MLB Pitchers which cost them $16, 322, 879. That’s quite a bit of money to pay for employees who were unable to pitch and contribute to the success of the team.
The culture will continue to foster and provide pitchers opportunities to enhance their skills and performance across the country. If used efficiently, the private sector can help a pitcher get to the next level more than ever, but the demands imposed on a professional pitcher shouldn't be the demands imposed on a 12-year-old pitcher. As a parent and a player, you are in control of your career. Ask questions, be honest with yourself, and make decisions within your best interest.
At DVS Baseball, we want to make pitchers better. We want them to stay healthy, perform at the highest level, and achieve long-term success. Our process is to educate, train, and deliver long-term success that combines all aspects of a pitcher's function, skill, and performance during their life cycle.
Thanks,
Justin Orenduff
