Major League Baseball’s two top pitching stars, Shane Bieber of the Cleveland Guardians and Spencer Strider of the Atlanta Braves, were among the players to suffer elbow injuries within the first few days of the season.
Not to mention, Jonathan Loaisiga of the New York Yankees, Yuri Perez of the Miami Marlins, and Trevor Gott of the Oakland Athletics also suffered elbow injuries. Gerrit Cole also missed the first few months of the season with an elbow problem.
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Braves pitcher Spencer Strider pitches during the first inning of the Arizona Diamondbacks game on Friday, April 5, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Tony Clark, executive director of the MLB Players Association, was in charge of the pitch clock.
“Despite unanimous player opposition and significant health and safety concerns, the Commissioner’s Office shortened the length of the pitch clock last December, making it one of the most significant changes in decades,” Clark said in a statement. “We are one season away from imposing rule changes.”
“Since then, our concerns about the health implications of reduced recovery times have only intensified. This is an unprecedented threat to our game and its most valuable asset, our players.”
Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Shane Bieber returns to the dugout after pitching against the Mariners on Tuesday, April 2, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsay Wasson, File)
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MLB cited the Johns Hopkins analysis in its response to the MLBPA. The researchers found no evidence that injuries increased with the introduction of pitch clocks, and that pitchers who worked quickly or increased their pace were more likely to be injured than pitchers who did not. There was no evidence that he was sexually active.” . ”
“This statement ignores the empirical evidence and the much more important long-term trends over decades of increased velocity and spin, which are highly correlated with arm injuries,” MLB added.
Cedric Mullins of the Orioles stands next to the pitching clock before a game against the Chicago White Sox at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore on August 29, 2023. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)
The pitch clock was introduced before the 2023 season. If the pitcher had no one on base, it took him 15 seconds to fire the ball, and if there were baserunners, it took him 20 seconds. The 20 seconds was shortened to 18 seconds by the league’s competition committee, but the association strongly opposed this.
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MLB hoped it would help shorten games, and that’s exactly what happened. The average length of a nine-inning game was reduced to 2 hours and 40 minutes, a reduction of 24 minutes.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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