Baseball has experienced a historic spike in elbow and arm injuries with pitchers in the last couple of years.
Spencer Strider, Gerrit Cole, Shane Bieber, Lucas Giolito, Jonathan Loaisiga, Kyle Bradish, Shohei Ohtani, Felix Bautista, and Framber Valdez are just a few hurlers who have gone down with a long-term elbow injury in the last two seasons.
The list is much, much larger.
Fans and media members have identified the need to throw harder every time and the reduced recovery time that results from the implementation of the pitch clock as the two main reasons behind the slew of elbow injuries.
Some of them have even recommended young pitchers to scale back on their pursuit to unlock more velocity because it could come at the expense of their health.
Los Angeles Dodgers ace Tyler Glasnow, however, has an interesting take about the situation.
He believes the increased risk of injuries is well worth it in many cases; and that he doesn’t regret the path he has walked so far.
“Tyler Glasnow says prioritizing velocity is worth the injury risk. ‘I think the decision of throwing hard and getting hurt is going to win every single time,’” Talkin’ Baseball tweeted.
Tyler Glasnow says prioritizing velocity is worth the injury risk.
“I think the decision of throwing hard and getting hurt is going to win every single time” pic.twitter.com/NfFILvYo0J
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) April 15, 2024
Glasnow, as you probably know by now, has been one of MLB’s best pitchers in 2024.
He has a 2.25 ERA in 24 innings, with 29 strikeouts.
However, his career-high in innings pitched is 120 (achieved last year) because he has had to constantly battle arm injuries and has gotten multiple surgeries.
Why?
Because he throws hard.
Both things can be true: throwing hard leads to more injuries, but also to better numbers and more career earnings.
Glasnow took the risk, and he signed a five-year, $136.5 million contract extension with the Dodgers before the start of the season.
The post Dodgers Ace Shares Surprising Take About Arm Injuries appeared first on The Cold Wire.