There's No Easy Answers For Slowing Down Rising Level Of Pitching Injuries At All Levels Of Baseball

Figuring out a cause for the skyrocketing number of arm injuries among pitchers is easy.

Finding a solution could prove much more challenging.

Major League Baseball issued a 62-page report in December that showed how the focus on throwing with increased velocity and using maximum effort on every pitch was a likely reason for the increase in injuries. The study provided numerical data backing a thesis already supported by conventional wisdom.

"It makes sense," Cleveland Guardians right-hander Tanner Bibee said. "You do anything at a max capacity, you're going to be at more risk for injury. If you try to squat your absolute max, you're going to get hurt more often than if you're squatting a plate and a bar. It's just kind of the nature of anything you do in life."

The study showed that major league pitcher injured list placements increased from 212 in 2005 to 485 in 2024. Days on the IL rose from 13,666 to 32,257.