Major League Baseball is on the precipice of a pitching crisis, according to Dr. Keith Meister, head team physician for the Texas Rangers and one of the country’s top elbow surgeons. Meister believes that the MLB’s current fixation on pitching performance is shortening pitchers’ careers and leading to an increase in elbow injuries.
In an interview with The Athletic, Meister revealed that he worked on 230 elbow ligaments last season and is already “way ahead of that pace” this season. He credits managers’ obsession with velocity and the introduction of new pitches like the sweeper and power changeup as major causes for the uptick in injuries.
“We used to say, you get your one Tommy John surgery, you’re good. Then it was, you get 10 years out of one. Then it was seven to eight,” Meister told The Athletic. “Now guys break down in three to five, depending upon who they are, the stuff they have, what they throw.”
An anonymous pitching coach corroborated this information, stating that pitchers have to pursue velocity or face flaming out of the league. “Analytics says velocity is super important. Pitchers and analysts pursue velocity. The pitchers that don’t do this retire. The ones that stay take on some injury risk to avoid working at Costco.”
According to one club’s analyst, the average major-league career is now under three years for all players, falling to just under 2.7 for pitchers. This trend is similar to NFL running back numbers, with players retiring before they even become arbitration-eligible.
Using Baseball Reference’s annual list of rookie players, we can estimate the average length of a pitcher’s career. Rookies who debuted in 2000 spent an average of 6.95 years in the pros before retiring, while rookies from 2020 only spent an average of 3.19 years. Of the 121 pitchers whose rookie year was in 2020, only 67 are still active, indicating a high rate of early retirements.
The pitching crisis in Major League Baseball is a serious concern that needs to be addressed. The focus on velocity and performance may be leading to shorter careers and higher rates of injury among pitchers. It is essential for teams and players to prioritize long-term health and sustainability in order to combat this crisis and ensure the longevity of pitchers’ careers in the MLB.
