Major League Baseball has long planned to meet a goal: reduce the duration of the games as much as possible in order to make them much more attractive and exciting. In this context, the recently implemented pitch clock is one of the league’s strategies to be able to comply with it, but one that is currently being roundly rejected by the players who live in the Major Leagues.
The Players Association expressed itself
Specifically, the Players Association, led by Tony Clark, said in a statement: “Despite unanimous opposition from players and significant concerns regarding health and safety, the commissioner’s office shortened the length of the shot clock last December by just one season. after imposing the most significant rule change in decades.”
On the other hand, they also commented: “Since then, our concerns about the impacts in health, the reduction in recovery time has only intensified.” Furthermore, he added: “The league’s unwillingness thus far to recognize or study the effects of these profound changes is an unprecedented threat to our game and its most valuable asset: the players.”
Important players injured
Some of the players who are injured in the elbow are Shane Bieber of the Cleveland Guardians, and Jonathan Loáisiga of the New York Yankees. Despite the Players Association’s statement, Major League executives were unable to find any relationship between the pitchers’ physical problems and the pitch clock and responded to this accusation by alleging that it has been a constant occurrence to see pitchers falling into injury issues for a long time, long before the implementation of the clock.
It was recently announced that Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieberwho defends the colors of the Cleveland Guardians, will have to undergo surgery to undergo the famous Tommy John operation, at the same time that the star pitcher of the Atlanta Braves, Spencer Strider, may have to suffer the same fate since He reported discomfort in the elbow of his throwing arm and could have damage to the ulnar collateral ligament.
Other top-level pitchers have also presented discomfort in said ligament or perhaps need Tommy John surgery: Sandy Alcántara, Walker Buehler, Shane McClanahan, Gerrit Cole and Robbie Ray, among others.
“This statement ignores empirical evidence and a much longer-term trend. more significant, over several decades, of increases in speed and spin that are highly correlated with arm injuries,” the executives alleged.
University studies to justify the watch
Major League Baseball executives emphasized their response to the statement of the Players Association, citing a study by Johns Hopkins University that said “no evidence was found to support that the introduction of the shot clock has increased injuries.” Furthermore, they state that “there is no evidence that pitchers who worked quickly or accelerated their pace were more likely to suffer an injury than those who did not.”
The pitching clock was established in the 2023 season, and requires the pitch to be made within 15 seconds when the bases are empty, and within 20 seconds when there is an active runner. Time starts running when the ball is received. A total of 31 Tommy John surgeries were performed in the 2023 season alone, compared to the annual average of 25.4 surgeries since the start of the 2014 season.
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