How to Fix the Plethora of TJ Surgeries
It seems like every other day, someone is blowing out their UCL and needing Tommy John Surgery. The Dodgers have had their share – Buehler, Gonsolin, May, Frasso, et al. What can be done to stop this? Can anything be done to stop this? I have been listening to all of the talk…
It seems like every other day, someone is blowing out their UCL and needing Tommy John Surgery. The Dodgers have had their share – Buehler, Gonsolin, May, Frasso, et al. What can be done to stop this? Can anything be done to stop this? I have been listening to all of the talk about this problem for a couple of weeks… and it is a growing problem. However, I do not believe there is just “one thing” that is causing it.
What really could be causing it?
- Everyone throws every pitch with maximum velocity. Whether it’s a fastball at 98 MPH or a slider at 92 MPH, just about every pitcher is throwing every pitch at maximum effort. Is it any wonder pitchers only go five innings… and blow out their arms? Just get them to throw with less velocity! Yeah, that will work. That is not going to change…
- How about a six-day rotation for every team to increase the rest period between starts? – Yeah, Shohei Ohtani was in a six-man rotation his entire time in Anaheim and didn’t avoid Tommy John surgery. It might help… but it’s not the solution.
- How about the time between pitches, which MLB cut back by 2 seconds this year? – I don’t think the extra two second reduction in this year’s pitch clock is going to make much difference. There are a myraid of factors contributing to the surge in arm problems. The pitch clock is one possible factor, but it’s probably being blamed disproportionately due to recency bias.
- How about teaching pitchers how to pitch and not just fall in love with a radar gun? – Yeah, that is gonna work! Come on man!
- Let them use Spider Tack. Now, of all the issues about arm injuries, I think that the banning of Spider Tack and other like substances has contributed to the TJ injuries more than anything. The Athletic said this about it: “Spider Tack represents the logical extreme in an arms race for better spin and nastier movement that has gone, to this point, unchecked by the league. Until a crackdown comes, Spider Tack is still one smear on the artist’s palette that is a pitcher’s glove. Pine tar, a sunscreen-and-rosin mixture and bubble-gum spit are more commonly used, another MLB pitcher said, but Spider Tack is easy to hide and wickedly effective. It’s almost too sticky — it takes WD-40 or baby oil to get it off your fingers. “Spider Tack is there to have on your glove for when you need that slider or heater to really rip,” the pitcher said.“ Additionally, Spider Tack gives a pitcher better control – there is a much lower likelihood that guys will be beaned!
See, when you don’t use Spider Tack, you can still spin the ball as fast and throw it as hard – you just have to exert dramatically more pressure on the baseball, and this comes from the “flexor area” of the forearm. Pitchers will do what they have to do to spin the ball and sometimes (without the Spider Tack) the ball slips out of their fingers and beans the batter. Spider Tack gives better control and the ability to spin the ball without forearm strain and blowing out the UCL.
Of course, this gives the pitcher a huge advantage over the hitter (except for the fact that they get beaned less). So, my proposal is to allow the Spider Tack and then allow the bat to be 25% bigger at the barrel. Tit for tat!
The fact that all of the names going down with UCL injuries this year are prominent guys isn’t helping things, either. Travis Sawchik with The Score recently reported the numbers, and (according to him) there have been fewer Tommy John Surgeries through this point in 2024 than there were in 2021, 2015, and 2014. So it’s not like we’ve never seen injuries on this scale before. It’s just that the ones that are currently occurring are just happening to Shane Bieber, Eury Perez, Lucas, Giolito, Spencer Strider, Sandy Alcantara, et al.
The notion that pitchers can just “go back” to focusing on location and not on filthy, nasty, wicked, high-spin sliders and curve balls and 100 MPH smoking velocity fastballs is not rooted in reality. Hitters today are stronger, in better shape, more talented, and hunting for extra-base hits more than ever before. You don’t see guys going up there and dropping down sacrifice bunts or trying to push weak contact the other way to move a runner up a base. Even if you could guarantee that backing down velo and deemphasizing spin would keep pitchers healthy – which you can’t – it would just keep them healthier while worsening their results, in all likelihood.
It’s the same as when people say hitters need to just go back to slapping the ball the other way and bunting. Yeah… Right! That was sooooo much easier when the average fastball was 6-7 mph slower than it is now and when guys weren’t throwing 92 mph sliders. It’s easy to say “bunt.” It’s damn hard to bunt a 92 MPH slider or a 100 MPH fastball. Fans who say that have no clue. No idea whatsoever! Brett Butler would not be nearly as effective in today’s game.
Bring back the Spider Tack.
Make the barrels of the bats bigger… and
Oh, bring on the Automatic Balls and Strikes Electronic Equipment and retire Angel Hernandez and his Bullshit!
Was there a game last night? I didn’t think so…
Actually, the last time the Dodgers lost on Jackie Robinson Day (2020), they won the World Series. Actually, there were two bright spots: Nick Ramirez and Ricky Vanasco. There is hope for the bullpen, but that Glasnow is a bum! 😉
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Discussion (49)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Over a billion dollars spent and Kike Hernandez is batting fifth? And Chris Taylor sixth. Ouch!
Kevin Gowdy is turning into a personal fave.
Had another scoreless inning tonight, which makes it 6 out of his 7 outings this year.
So far it’s 7 Ks with just 1 walk.
Dodgers pitcher development reportedly transitioned him to a 2 seamer and it’s worked. He’s also 92-95 on the sinker & throws that for a strike 75% of the time.
Ohtani is 1-18 with runners in scoring position and has failed in both his at bats tonight. That is not what you expect from the highest paid player in baseball. He needs to turn that around asap.
I am so over uneducated Dodger fans posting their shortsighted BS on multiple sites. Next person that says fire Doc, fire yourself,, he would be hired by another team within a week. He is a MANAGER, which in this day and age is more than between the lines and making game decesions, it’s about pumping certain players up, holding other players accountable, and keeping the clubhouse culture with all those huge egos pulling in the same direction, all within the huge microscope of being the Dodger manager, Another thing, before all these tool bags with a key board start trashing the Dodger front office , do your damn research. Ned Colleti mentioned just a couple of days ago that he and most GMs don’t even think about making a major move until early or mid May,, as some players are still working themselves into the season, and some take longer than others. He also mentioned that by that time you get a feel for what your players are all about. And he isn’t the only baseball exec who has preached this, especially bullpens, which we all know that half the guys there right now will not be there by late August. Just do your friggin research by listening to players and execs who have been there and get paid to know the flow of the game before you spout your keyboard Cowboy crap. Never seem so much negative vibes this early in the season, who are these clowns??? if your going to be a true Dodger fan act like it. Any Bozo can be a Giant fan , all they do is talk trash all day long, nothing but negativity. Take the long game and believe in the process, we WILL be there come October, just chill the heck out , trust Freidman knows what he’s doing, and enjoy the season, going to be lots of ups and downs.
And while I’m on my ample soap box as some of you guys sight me in for the kill shot, I’m old enough to remember when Lasorda took over from Walter Alston in the 70’s, he was the guy who was going to get us over the hump after losing to the A’s in ‘74 and getting trampled by the Big Red Machine every year., our fiery savior from the Dukes. After losing to the Yankees in ‘77 and ‘78 , fans were getting restless, (gee, ring a bell?). He finally won in ‘81, but he had a reputation of leaving his pitchers in too long and running them ragged. Also, in ‘85 he had a chance to walk Jack Clark ,with a base open but didn’t want to face Andy van Slyke, so we all know how that turned out. So , no Dodger manager is without his warts, and also back then they ragged on Lasorda in the late ‘70’s saying anybody could manage a team that was so loaded with talent, Garvey, Lopes, Russell , Cey, Baker, Smith, Ferguson, Yeager, Wynn , the toy cannon, Mota, Buckner, pitching with Sutton , Rhoden, Rau, and of course the stud Messersmith. Then you got Mike Marshall to close. I know first hand because I was a young paperboy in the mid to late 70’s and used to read how the sports columnists totally trashed Tommy as a no win blowhard.as I folded my papers for my route, used to kill me reading that. Sound familiar 40 years later? Don’t think Tommy was relieved when he finally won in ‘81???? Like I said., if your a true Dodger fan , act like it, search the history of this franchise and you will see that just about all the managers got criticized and had the pitch forks out for them at one time or another by the same douchbags as we have today, why do you think Alston got ushered into retirement ? You still have to win in this market, and Roberts, warts and all, has done that, He doesn’t go 2 for 30 like mookie and Freddy did last year, plus having zero starting pitching against the D Bags . Move on people, it’s a new season!!!