War on Pitchers...It may be VERY real

[Friar Fanatic]

Quote: Originally Posted by Jr.

There are a few more Latin players now (Fernandez and Nova come to mind), but the number of US born pitchers still far outnumber international players.

Ya, that's definitely a big sign to look at. That's why the Nats have been so careful with Strasburg knowing how he pitched in his past.

[Jr.]

Quote: Originally Posted by Friar Fanatic

Ya, that's definitely a big sign to look at. That's why the Nats have been so careful with Strasburg knowing how he pitched in his past.

Which didn't work out. A lot of orthopedics are thinking that the damage is done when they were kids, and there's not much that can be done to save them from eventual injury anymore.

It's depressing, but I don't see the cycle ending. As I said before, there's way too much money to be made in the travel ball/college camp circuits because parents are willing to dish out $10K per year to try to get their kid seen as much as possible. And college coaches/pro scouts are more than willing to attend them because it's so much easier than traveling to 10 different schools a week to watch games.

[KMRblue1027]

Quote: Originally Posted by PhilliesFan13

Cliff Lee gets an MRI on his elbow today. Uh-oh. At this point, TJ surgery wouldn't surprise me at all considering the trend lately.

Lee doesn't seem to fit the type, holding hope that it's not a UCL tear.

Edit: Gelb says it just a strained flexor tendon as long as it's rest and rehab I'm ok with that. Need Lee to be 100% by June 30th.

[Friar Fanatic]

Quote: Originally Posted by Jr.

Which didn't work out. A lot of orthopedics are thinking that the damage is done when they were kids, and there's not much that can be done to save them from eventual injury anymore. It's depressing, but I don't see the cycle ending. As I said before, there's way too much money to be made in the travel ball/college camp circuits because parents are willing to dish out $10K per year to try to get their kid seen as much as possible. And college coaches/pro scouts are more than willing to attend them because it's so much easier than traveling to 10 different schools a week to watch games.

Ya exactly. High school kids don't need to be throwing so hard so often. There needs to be a limit of some kind on young kids and pitch count/speed limit. As silly as it sounds I think they need it. There is a reason that this is predominantly a U.S. problem.

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[bad_philanthropy]

I wonder what the data looks like for elbow injuries throughout the history of professional baseball prior to contemporary diagnostics and surgical intervention. It would be interesting to know if these ligament injuries were more prevalent than have been formally documented, and were simply classed as a player losing his stuff, or breaking down and failing to live up to expectations prior to getting into a professional stream.

[Friar Fanatic]

Found this very interesting. http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-...-john-epidemic

[Jr.]

Not a big name, but add Dodgers RP Chris Withrow to the torn UCL list. We're about to enter the month with historically the most UCL injuries to pitchers.

[19]

Bronson Arroyo.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-...y-john-surgery