Stark: Pitchers accept that the pitch clock causes more injuries but 'there is no fact'

The MLB rule changes dominated the discussion leading up to last season and they definitely had an impact. The average game time was down, but due to the pitch clock, it seemed like pitching injuries were up.

Hall of Fame MLB writer Jayson Stark joined Rob Bradford on the Audacy original podcast “Baseball Isn’t Boring” and gave his take on the pitch clock’s impact on pitching injuries.

“I understand exactly why pitchers think it does,” Stark said (9:55 in player above). “What’s the primary cause of injuries? It’s pitching or playing past the point of fatigue. And if there’s less time to recover there’s more fatigue. And if there’s more fatigue, that should theoretically lead to more injuries.”

The theories behind the increase in injuries make sense. If pitchers have less time to recover between pitches, there is going to be more wear and tear on the arm.

“But when you ask people in medicine, people in every phase of the game except for players, and you say ‘Has there been a study that shows this, that proves this? So we can connect those dots.’ They say ‘It’s too soon. That study’s never been done.’

“(MLBPA executive director) Tony Clark, when I ran into him this spring, we had a long talk about it and he started talking about the injuries. I said ‘Tony, just so I know, have you guys at the union studied this so we know this is true.’ And he said ‘No. Those studies don’t exist.’ Which is fascinating because pitchers accept it as fact. But there is no fact.”

The pitch clock has only been implemented for one major league season and less than 10 minor-league seasons.

“One thing that we know causes pitching injuries is every single guy who takes the mound is going max effort. We know that causes injury,” Stark said. “We don’t know yet what the clock’s impact is.”

However, Stark doesn’t believe that the pitch clock needed any changes from last season. It will now be two seconds shorter – down to 18 seconds from 20 – with runners on base.

“I would not have tightened the pitch clock. I would’ve given it a year or two to see if that trend they saw in the last couple of months toward longer games continued,” he concluded. “There are other ways to shorten games without going down that road. I would like to see that stuff explored.”