Teams are searching for ways to protect their investments, but the hard truth is that many pitchers are on the road to surgery well before they are drafted.
Call it the year of the elbow ligament, and many in baseball are asking two separate, and newly urgent, questions about Tommy John surgery: Why is it happening so often, and is the procedure riskier than we thought?
This young season, more than any other year in recent memory, has been defined by pitcher injuries. The Atlanta Braves were stunned when starters Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy each required a second elbow reconstruction surgery, six months after National League All-Star starter Matt Harvey needed his first, devastating the Mets’ hopes to contend in 2014.
Other high-profile victims this year — there are 12 so far — include Mets closer Bobby Parnell, Oakland’s Jarrod Parker, Arizona’s Patrick Corbin, Detroit’s Bruce Rondon, and Pittsburgh’s Jameson Taillon. Tampa Bay’s Matt Moore is the latest victim, after he held off on the decision for a short while.
Teams are searching for ways to protect their investments, but the hard truth is that many pitchers are on the road to surgery well before they are drafted.
If a 24-year-old in the pros blows out an elbow, then the question is, did it start when he was 15? And the answer is, probably.
“If a 24-year-old in the pros blows out an elbow, then the question is, did it start when he was 15?” says Glenn Fleisig, a biomechanics expert who works in conjunction with noted orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews.
“And the answer is, probably.”
Fleisig, the research director for the American Sports Medicine Institute in Birmingham, Ala., worked on a study that followed 500 pitchers for 10 years, starting at age 12.
“We found, for sure, that kids who pitched more than 100 innings in a year were more likely to have surgery,” Fleisig said. “It was a statistical, very strong finding that if you pitched too much you had a higher chance of getting hurt.” There were other factors, like mechanics, but Fleisig found that a heavy workload in youth was the strongest.
Yankees reliever Shawn Kelley, who has undergone Tommy John surgery twice, has copious anecdotal evidence to support Fleisig’s findings.
“Nowadays anybody can start a travel league, or an AAU team,” Kelley says. “I think the problem lies there. Some Little Leagues do a good job of regulating how often a kid can throw. But if you’re throwing in a sanctioned Little League, and you throw 60 pitches, and they say you can’t pitch until next week, that’s great.
“But if you’re on another team, and you throw 60 pitches two days later — they can’t monitor that. The parents and the coaches, they want to win, and they think their kid is going to be the next Nolan Ryan.”
We found, for sure, that kids who pitched more than 100 innings in a year were more likely to have surgery. It was a statistical, very strong finding that if you pitched too much you had a higher chance of getting hurt.
Kelley continued: “Kids are getting run into the ground. I have so many people that I talk to who are like, ‘Hey, my 15-year-old is having elbow problems, and I’m just like, how? How are you having elbow problems when you’re just a kid?’”
Another question that arises because of the uptick in young pitchers needing Tommy John surgery: If a kid has been using performance-enhancing drugs since high school or college, is he at a greater risk to tear a tendon?
“Is that a possibility?” Fleisig says. “Yeah. Whether using the banned stuff, or just good nutrition and the weight room, the truth is that when you exercise, your muscles are what get bigger. Your ligaments and tendons get a little bigger and stronger... (but) if you make your muscles super strong, and your ligaments and tendons don’t proportionally keep up, that might (create) a higher risk for injury.”
Fleisig and Kelley both added another important point, that Medlen’s and Beachy’s need for a second Tommy John surgery underscored a misconception, stronger in recent years, that it is a fool-proof procedure.
“A lot of times, because Tommy John surgery is so good, the pitcher, the team, the dad or whatever will say, ‘Hey, let’s just do it and get it over with,’” Fleisig says. “And the doctor, if they’re a good one, they’re trying to convince them not to. The doctors know the truth, that your body still has the best pieces to start with, so surgery is the last resort.”
Added Kelley: “There are so many young kids who think that it’s like a miracle surgery — ‘Hey, let’s go do it now when I’m young. Let’s get it out of the way.’ Why would anybody want to cut their elbow open and take a year off of baseball at a young age if they didn’t have to?”
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/martino-mlb-tommy-boys-dropping-flies-problem-start-youth-leagues-article-1.1756389#ixzz30Iw8UJKW
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