The effect of the clock on the arms of pitchers remains difficult to measure | Did you see?

Two years after the implementation of a count between pitches in major league baseball, researchers are studying its effects on muscular fatigue in gunners and the risks it poses for arm injuries.

The league implemented this base clock of 15 seconds to speed up games, with success. The average duration of meetings increased from 3 hours 6 minutes in 2022 to 2 hours 42 minutes in 2023, then to 2 hours 38 minutes in 2024.

MLB tightened the rule in 2024, further decreasing the maximum time between two pitches when a runner is on the paths. The time went from 20 to 18 seconds in these conditions.

This decision was criticized by the players’ union for health reasons. Last April, the director of the Players’ Association said that an increase in elbow injuries was caused by this change from 20 to 18 seconds.

The league’s refusal, thus far, to acknowledge or study the effects of these profound changes poses an unprecedented threat to our sport and its most valuable resource: the players.Tony Clark had indicated.

The number of players having had Tommy John surgery, aimed at reconstructing a damaged elbow, increased from 28 in 2022, before the clock was introduced, to 33 in 2023 and 2024, according to the database updated. day by researcher Jon Roegele.

The percentage of pitchers having had surgery has increased slightly since 2019. In six seasons, it went from 29.8% (in 2019) to 34.2% (in 2023), then 36.6% (in 2024).

Researchers have studied the effects of a timer between pitches on the arms of gunners in anticipation of his arrival in the majors. Mathieu Tremblay, doctoral student in biomedical sciences at the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières (UQTR), cites a Canadian study carried out in 2016, which focused on the subject.

I have read a lot on the subject during my research. Before it happened in major baseball, the pitch clock was tested in the minor leagues first, he explains. And a Canadian researcher looked into this in 2016. He established models for 12 seconds and 20 seconds to see the effects on the throwing arm. And he concluded that yes, there really was an effect on accumulated muscle fatigue.

But the kinesiologist, himself a former player, also notes a very recent study, which demonstrates that the arrival of the clock has not resulted in a real increase in injuries.

An American study, published inthe Journal of Orthopaedics this year, came to the conclusion that there had been no more elbow or shoulder injuries after the first season, underlines Mathieu Tremblay. It is also important to understand that there are other factors that can lead to injuries.

Total injuries decreased significantly after MLB’s 2023 clock implementationwe can read at the conclusion of the article. Although the 2023 season had the highest total number of elbow and forearm injuries, the rate of elbow injuries among pitchers did not change significantly from the 2021 and 2022 seasons of the MLB, Further studies that track progress over multiple seasons in the future will be needed to determine whether the clock has a longitudinal effect on elbow injuries in pitchers.

There is therefore no consensus in the scientific literature. Further research would be necessary to explore the question further.

The idea that the newly compressed schedule of major baseball games, which imposes a greater number of pitches per minute on gunners, can cause more injuries nevertheless holds water, according to Mathieu Tremblay.

We increase the fatigue of a throwing arm, we increase the instability of the elbow. There is more stress on the joint, on the shoulder, and therefore a greater risk of injury. This is, yes, a viable theory.

In response to the players’ union’s concerns, in April, MLB referenced a Johns Hopkins University study which claimed not to have found no evidence to support that introduction of the throwing timer increased injuries et no evidence that pitchers who worked quickly…or increased their pace were more likely to suffer an injury than those who did not.

While waiting to have more scientific data, Mathieu Tremblay, who also works on various projects with the Baseball Academy of Canada, pleads for a change of culture in sport.

Baseball is such a conservative sport, so tradition-based, that fans don’t like much change. But instead of complaining about the arrival of pitch clockwhy not change certain practices in sport? he asks himself.

The researcher from the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières, whose thesis focuses on the acute effects of neuromuscular fatigue on the performance of baseball pitchers, would like professional sport to adjust to the new standards that have become established over time. years.

Over the past 20 years, it is astonishing how sporting performance has evolved. We have launchers at 105 miles per hour. There are new risk factors and we have to adjust.

We should therefore agree to tackle a little the folkloric side of America’s favorite pastime, according to him.

We agree, a rotation with a pitcher who returns every five days is not a practice that is based on precise data. It’s simply a habit that has fallen into use.he said. The regulations could also be modified, for example, to include a greater number of pitchers in the lineup.

The researcher nods when comparing the workload of pitchers to that of goaltenders in the National Hockey League, now better distributed between starter and backup.

It’s the same thing. But the fact remains that at the professional level, we find ourselves with the best of the best, and with owners, managers, who often favor short-term success. And they also deal with the fans who also want to see the best players on the field as much as possible.