Ben McDonald addresses increase in pitching injuries: MLB's got to do a serious dive into this

The list of injured pitchers in Major League Baseball is growing by the day. We have already seen a handful of star pitchers hit the injured list with elbow injuries in the first few weeks of the season. Whether it’s the pitch clock, chasing velocity, throwing max effort every pitch, or something else entirely, MLB may need to do more to protect pitchers in today’s game.

Former MLB pitcher and current Baltimore Orioles commentator Ben McDonald talked about the increase in pitching injuries while appearing on the Audacy original podcast “Baseball Isn’t Boring” this week.

“What’s alarming in today’s world, for me, is I feel like we’re in a time where we’re taking the best care of our pitchers that we ever have. What I mean by that is limiting the pitches, limiting the innings that we throw, the recovery time,” McDonald said. “All those things and yet it feels like we’re in a time where we’re losing more and more of our pitchers every day.”

McDonald spent nine years in the majors from 1989 to 1997. Back in those days when pitchers were hurt it was much more likely to be a shoulder injury rather than an elbow injury, but that’s now the opposite in today’s game.

While the analytics and spin rates of pitching can be a good thing, they may also have an impact on injury numbers.

“I think pitching labs are very good but I think they’re the devil in some ways too because now we know at the big-league level what certain spins and shapes consistently get big-league hitters out,” McDonald continued. “We’re trying to create those spins and shapes in these labs and bring them to the field. They’re working, but I also feel like we’re doing things that are unnatural to our arm. We really pronate hard on the changeup and guys snap over trying to make that ball move.”

Pitchers nowadays seem to be chasing velocity. The average fastball speed has increased dramatically in recent years and even more so since McDonald’s playing days. He recalled how he would cruise at 85% or 90% effort and only turn it up to his max effort in big spots when the game was on the line.

Nowadays, pitchers seem to be throwing with maximum effort on every single pitch. They’re also gripping the ball tighter and tighter without the use of legal sticky substances.

“When they took away the sticky stuff … a lot of pitchers feel in today’s game that without the sticky stuff that they used to use they’re having to grip the ball a lot tighter. They’re having to hold the ball tighter,” McDonald said. “I’ve heard a handful of pitchers say they definitely relate that to the pitching injuries that are going on now.”

McDonald mentioned how the Korean league uses a baseball with a tacky substance to help pitchers’ grip. However, given the rule changes geared towards more offense, the league may not want to reverse that by helping the pitchers.

But it may be a necessity to do something to keep the league’s best pitchers healthy.

“I think Major League Baseball’s got to do a serious dive into this. We got to find a way to keep our stars on the field. Our stars have to be on the field for people to watch this game. If we’re losing our superstars it’s not good,” he said. “Why are we losing our superstars? I think it’s all of the above: max velocity, no sticky stuff, trying to create shapes and spins. I think there’s a lot to it going on.”

Of course, the pitch clock may also have an impact on pitchers’ arms. Not allowing pitchers to have enough recovery time between pitches is something that players and analysts have theorized to be causing some injuries.

“I’ve talked to four or five pitchers recently … they think the recovery time with the (pitch) clock, they think that could be an issue as well,” McDonald said. “Now I did not agree with the decision of Major League Baseball after just one year of putting in arguably the biggest rule in baseball that we’ve seen maybe in 30 years and all of a sudden we’ve shaved two more seconds off the (pitch) clock. I was not a fan of that.

“We need to let our dudes get used to doing what they’re doing for several years and then make the adjustment. For me, look, if I’m here for a two-hour forty-five-minute game, I don’t care if it goes four extra minutes if we got more recovery time for our stars that on the field. That’s what Major League Baseball has to decide now.”

Ultimately, the increase in pitching injuries may be due to a wide variety of factors. Nevertheless, a deep dive into things as McDonald suggests definitely couldn’t hurt.