Pitching legend Greg Maddux on solution to MLB’s Tommy John crisis not encouraging
The year 2024 marks the culmination of a process that began many years ago, as teams began monitoring the number of pitches thrown by a pitcher in a game. It was found that there was a noticeable decline in performance after a certain number of pitches were thrown, with 100 pitches being considered the threshold.
Over the years, Smoltz has strongly criticized the development of pitching, particularly at the youth level where children are taught that throwing with high velocity is the only way to succeed. This focus on speed has resulted in a significant increase in serious arm injuries among teenage players.
When you’re at a Major League Baseball game and hear something that resembles a clap, there’s a higher likelihood that it’s the pitcher’s elbow making a popping sound.
The pitcher was aware that he would be replaced after his 100th pitch, causing all of the pitchers to throw every single pitch with a sense of urgency and importance.
What actions are baseball taking to address its current public crisis?“Who knows? It depends on who your coach is. Change the mentality to all of it,” said Baseball Hall of Famer, pitcher Greg Maddux, in a phone interview.
During that same period, there was an increased focus on power and strikeouts as the most effective means of progressing to the next level.
“My brother, Mike Maddux, is an excellent teacher in regards to pitching. The key to success is executing the pitch, rather than solely focusing on spin rate or velocity,” Greg Maddux shared. “I’m not suggesting that you have to sacrifice speed to improve accuracy, but there is a strong emphasis on high school and college players showcasing their throwing power.”
Maddux has arrived in the city for the 2024 Invited Celebrity Classic, a three-day tournament on the PGA Tour Champions that also features talented retired athletes. Among them are his ex-teammates from the Atlanta Braves, the renowned pitchers John Smoltz and Tom Glavine, both of whom are in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
This data does not encompass the collegiate or secondary school levels, where there has been a notable increase in this type of injury over the past ten years.
This solution may seem mundane, particularly since Maddux is now 58 years old and may be disregarded as being from a previous time.
One simple method to prevent injuries is to return to the style of pitching used during Maddux’s time, where precision and accuracy were highly valued.
“When I began coaching, I noticed a pattern – while at UNLV, players would often prioritize throwing the ball at high speeds rather than focusing on getting batters out,” stated Maddux. “It can be frustrating when our ultimate goal is to win the game.”
“When I threw, we were satisfied with using our fastball as our primary pitch. We didn’t attempt to increase its speed, but instead focused on executing it more effectively than our opponents.”
According to Maddux, speed is important. Teams prefer players who can throw with high velocity. As a coach, I would rather work with a player who can throw 95 mph instead of 90 mph. While being faster is beneficial, it is not the solution to all issues.
“Innovative individuals recognized a potential, and across the U.S., various clinics, camps, and trainers emerged with the specific goal of enhancing arm strength and power. Coupled with a greater focus on “spin rate,” where pitchers aim to create rapid movement on pitches thrown at intense speeds, this creates an exceptional player.”
Last year, all of MLB’s top players, including Shohei Ohtani, Sandy Alcantara, Shane McClanahan, Felix Bautista, and Jacob deGrom, were sidelined with the same injury.
The person is relying on the weak ulnar collateral ligament to keep everything in place. Despite the person’s high skill level and intense weight training, this ligament can only handle so much before giving out.
Recently, Tony Clark, executive director of the Major League Baseball Player’s Association, released a statement stating that the increase in injuries can be attributed to the implementation of MLB’s pitch clock last season. This assertion may be unsubstantiated.
Don’t fault the timing clock, but instead the number of pitches thrown. When baseball personnel began monitoring and placing importance on pitch counts, it has resulted in a path of strength, finances, and medical procedures for pitchers.
This generation of baseball has created a pitcher who can manipulate a baseball in ways that even Maddux could not, but his career will not be as lengthy.
In the past month, multiple pitchers from various MLB teams (Shane Bieber from Cleveland, Spencer Strider from Atlanta, and Eury Pérez from Miami) have sustained season-ending injuries due to torn ulnar collateral ligaments in their pitching elbow. As reported by USA Today, a total of 38 major league pitchers have experienced this type of injury in the past 13 months, resulting in the need for the frequent Tommy John surgery.
Despite the NFL implementing rules to protect their top-earning athletes, MLB fails to devise a solution to prevent their ace pitchers from sustaining elbow injuries during their peak years.
Maddux is considered one of the most talented pitchers in history. He had a career spanning from 1986 to 2008 and his impressive statistics seem unachievable in today’s game. In the period from 1998 to 2001, he consistently pitched over 200 innings per season.
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