If you’ve been watching MLB Network or any sports show that covers baseball you should already know about the epidemic running through baseball right now. Not the scandal with steroids that cost a handful of the marquee players in the league portions of their 2013 season, including Alex Rodriguez’ entire 2014 season. Not the conditional pick that cost a few top free agents to sit without a job a lot longer than they should have. No, what has been plaguing the league recently is the amount of pitchers losing seasons to tears of their ulnar collateral ligament.
The UCL injury bug seems to be affecting every single team. It is one of the key factors into why the Arizona Diamondbacks have started slow as they lost their number one starter Patrick Corbin to the epidemic. It is what could be a huge blow to a team that has been a surprise contender early in the season when the Miami Marlins lost superstar Jose Fernandez. It is what has helped the Tampa Bay Rays start slow as they lost a guy who has established himself as one of the aces when they lost Matt Moore to the dreaded surgery as well. These injuries have really hurt these teams, but they are only a small portion of the epidemic that continues to plague baseball.
New York Yankees - Ivan Nova
Looking at Nova’s numbers this doesn’t seem like that huge of a loss for the Yankees. Nova has a career earned run average of 4.20 and was off to a tough start in 2014 with an ERA of 8.27. Those numbers don’t scream ‘danger’ when you lose them from your starting rotation, but when you look at the rest of the rotation that is hampered by injury and inconsistency you see a big hole that is left by this loss. Nova was looking like a solid bottom of the rotation starter for a team that appears to be ready to rebound after missing the playoffs in 2013 and without him there they have had to patch work a bottom of the rotation.
Texas Rangers - Martin Perez
Perhaps the most painful loss to the UCL tear for any team in the league is Perez’ loss to the Rangers starting rotation. The Rangers were already struggling with injuries in the rotation with Matt Harrison being up and down over the past two season and Derek Holland missing for the first half of the season, but the bright spot of the rotation was Perez establishing himself as a top of the rotation starter. That was all halted when he was told he would need Tommy John surgery. Perez’ ERA doesn't look great at 4.38, but it was inflated by three consecutive bad starts before he went down with the injury.
Those three poor starts may have been because of the injury because before those games he threw back-to-back two complete game shutouts. What makes those two shutouts impressive is they were against two of the highest scoring offenses in the league, the Chicago White Sox (third in runs scored) and the Oakland Athletics (second in runs scored). Now without Perez in the rotation the Rangers will have to patch work a starting rotation until Holland can come back and hope that reliever turned starter Tanner Scheppers can also return and make an impact.
New York Mets - Matt Harvey
The Mets weren’t supposed to compete this season, and a big part of those lowers expectations were because of the UCL tear that took down the ace of their staff in late 2013. Right now the Mets are holding on in the National League East only five games out of first place even though they are last in the division. If they had Harvey right now it is easy to suggest that he could have helped lead them to a few more wins at this point, but what makes this case so interesting is that if the Mets can stay close into August they may have Harvey back.
In an interview with Sport Illustrated’s Tom Verducci aired on MLB Network, Harvey explained that he wants to get back on the mound in August or September for the stretch run and the reason he may be able to do it is because Tommy John surgery specialist Dr. James Andrews was able to make a “super ligament.” He said, “Technically I have four tendons that are trying to bond together and become a super ligament, I guess, as he called it. So hopefully that one lasts 15 years or so.” Not only will this “super ligament” help him possibly come back this season, but he may not have to change the way he pitches to protect the ligament because of the extra wraps around the tendon.
Oakland Athletics - Jarrod Parker and A.J. Griffin
The Athletics may be the most affected by the epidemic of UCL tears this season, yet they have not slowed down because of it, yet. Looking at both of these guys and what they have done for this team over the last two seasons they were each important in different ways. Parker was a breakout performer in 2012 starting the season in AAA then finishing it starting games one and five of the American League Division Series opposite superstar Justin Verlander.
In 2013 Parker continued where he left off and was the most consistent starter on the staff, and with the departure of Bartolo Colon in free agency he had established himself as the ace of the staff heading into the 2014 season. Griffin came up in 2012 and dazzled with his big slow curveball, and while he struggled giving up the long ball in 2013, he was an innings eater as the only starter on the staff to total 200 innings. So far the pitching staff has made losing those two look like nothing, but eventually not having those two leaders should catch up with them.
When you read this article, you may think this is just overreacting, but I’m not alone. On top of interviewing Harvey, Verducci was also included in a MLB Network Roundtable, and during that roundtable discussion Bob Costas interviewed Dr. Andrews about Tommy John surgery. Andrews said, “There’s been a five to seven fold increase in throwing arm injuries in youth baseball since the year 2000.
If you look at Major League pitchers and really study their history and go back and look at things and try to piece it together you will usually find out that their initial problem was perhaps a minor problem that began in youth baseball. At least that’s what we’re seeing.” With more injuries occurring in youth sports, the pitchers who end up requiring these surgeries are getting younger and younger.
The aforementioned Parker is just 25-years-old and has now had two Tommy John surgeries already in his career. This epidemic is real, and if something doesn’t change soon in youth sports it could impact MLB negatively more than steroids ever did.