Justin Verlander explains “everything” causing baseball pitcher injuries

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MLB has a pandemic on its hands, or at least, that’s how Justin Verlander views the recent surge in pitchers sustaining elbow injuries.

Following the injuries to likes of Cleveland Guardians ace Shane Bieber, Miami Marlins pitcher Eury Perez and Atlanta Braves star Spencer Strider, Verlander was asked about the uptick in elbow injuries among pitchers across MLB, and he described it as being a “pandemic.”

Original reporting: https://www.si.com/mlb/2024/04/08/justin-verlander-addresses-elbow-injuries

Verlander attributed the increase in injuries to the desire among pitchers to spin the ball more and throw with more velocity, suggesting it was a “double-edge sword” as improvement in those areas can lead to injury risks.

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[Music]
here’s Brody
Brazil so I’m going to play you this
clip of Justin Verlander speaking to
reporters after a minor league Rehab
start this past weekend and the question
came up about the epidemic let’s call it
of pitcher arm and elbow injuries
recently in Major League Baseball some
have been tying it to the pitch timer
and how that’s been instituted and even
the time has been decreased but also
it’s an overall trend that we’ve seen
coming now for years and really decades
and Verlander at age 40 has endured all
of it successfully I know he’s on a
rehab start right now but his career has
not been eliminated because of injury so
how has he done it and what is his
perspective and by the way I think as
much as somebody like I could talk about
elbow and arm injuries and what I see
and what former players might hear and
see and understand I truly think it’s
best to have somebody right now who’s
established and a veteran in this game
who’s been understanding it for the last
couple years and decades to really give
us their expert take so here’s the
question and here’s what Verlander said
almost 4 minutes of a response Justin
what what are your thoughts on just the
last couple days we’ve seen a bunch of
pitchers go down with injuries and
there’s been blame on both sides what
what do you think I don’t know man it’s
tough um I think the game has changed a
lot uh you know I I I I think the I
think it’d be easy to sit here and blame
the pitch clock um you know I think in
reality uh you put everything together
and um everything has a little bit to a
little bit of influence and that’s a
great perspective I will be by the way
stopping and starting this video a few
times to understand that it may be a
combination of everything instead of
just one thing maybe there’s a primary
reason it’s velocity or spin but then
it’s now the pitch timer added on to
that the lack of recovery time I
appreciate his forethought on that um
you know I think the biggest thing is
the the the the style of pitching has
changed so much um you know everybody’s
throwing as hard as they possibly can
and um spinning the ball as hard as they
possibly can and um you know it’s hard
to deny those results obviously and that
is a truth right if you’re a pitcher and
you’re getting results in Performance
Based on throwing the ball hard or
getting it to spin that much or
constantly using breaking pitches or
trying to strike everybody out instead
of pitching to contact if you’re getting
some results what do you think you’re
going to do and what do you think you’re
going to be encouraged to do by your
team and your coaching staff uh how can
you it’s it’s it’s it’s a double-edged
sword how can you tell somebody to go
out there and not do that when they’re
capable of throwing 100 and and you know
so this this young guy comes up and
throws a pitch 95 and gives up a big
Homer and everybody’s like what the hell
man um it’s almost like just because one
night you had four drinks doesn’t mean
you should have four drinks every single
time you enjoy so something needs to
change uh I I I don’t have all the
answers I know pitching um you know and
I’ve been I don’t want to beat a dead
horse here it is what it is um I think
the data is out there at this point but
when the balls started to change back in
2016 and they started flying out a bit
more frequently that’s another part of
this conversation right remember in the
mid 2010s and to me what I noticed is is
less about the inner workings of the
baseball although pitchers did feel like
the the yarn was spun a bit tighter it
was a more hitter friendly baseball than
it used to be before but I I noticed
that the actual seams on the baseball
they used to have a little bit of depth
a little bit of traction so if you
really wanted to grip it and snap off a
curveball you could really get your
fingertips on those seams get a little
extra grip it seemed it seemed like
those seams got a lot flatter on the
baseball and then it was hard to grip
the baseball and then obviously a couple
years later we get into the 2020s and
the umpires are checking the pitcher’s
hands and gloves for substances you
can’t use any foreign substances so now
all of a sudden pitchers can’t grip the
baseball the seams are lower to
Verlander’s point and you can’t use the
sticky stuff and now we’ve arrived here
um I know myself personally that started
changing how I had to approach pitching
um you have to start swinging you have
to start approaching uh uh the batter as
I want swing and Miss I can’t have him
put the ball in play where the old adage
uh pitch down pitch away from the guy
hit your spot get a weak you know get
weak contact pitch to contact right
early in the count um and then you can
kind of go up and uh that kind of went
out the window um when when everybody
started being able to leave the yard
especially opposite field hitters got
better right so you can’t maybe pitch to
contact because contact is going to
screw you up in the baseball game but I
I still think right if you’re trying to
go complete games if you’re trying to
get more out of your starting rotation
and and you want to go eight Innings and
you only want to throw 90s something
pitches if the pitch count is going to
limit you then how does the starter go
eight
Innings you got to make your defense
work you got to make the ball be put in
play to where your defense can take care
of it um you know and and look I I like
I said I’m not here to uh I I I’ve I’ve
said my pece on that before in the past
and it is what it is as long as we’re
all out here competing on an even
playing field that’s what I care about
and we all have the same baseball in our
hands so that’s that um but I do think
that you throw that in the mix um and
you throw analytics in the mix and you
throw the pitch clock in the mix and it
all kind of you know all kind of adds up
and uh it’s unfortunate I don’t know how
we rewind the clock um maybe by the way
he’s still going in his answer here this
is one answer to one question he’s going
to go like four minutes total on his
response I also like at this point how
you can see his brain thinking like he
is actually wanting to talk more about
this he’s glad this was brought up and
I’m glad that he’s talking so elegantly
about it there’s some sort of way to
incentivize starting pitching going
deeper in games um you know I remember I
talked to sherzer at link last year with
the Mets and we talked about having uh
you know the starting pitcher be tied to
a DH and having um you know you have to
uh achieve certain uh Milestones before
if the pitcher comes out and he hasn’t
ched any those Milestones um you lose
your DH so at least the team is
incentivized to teach their pitchers to
go through the lineup three times so if
your starter like let’s say oh sorry
Justin I didn’t mean to get you on a bad
Freeze Frame there if your starter
doesn’t go five you lose your DH for the
rest of the game now I don’t know how
that would go do you replace somebody in
the order does your well your pitcher
couldn’t necessarily hop in there
especially that would make things messy
well in the American League or national
league at this point but interesting
though you lose your DH if your starter
doesn’t go a distance whereas right now
nobody’s incentivized to do that no
teams are incentivized to um tell their
pitcher okay like let’s go through the
lineup three times let’s navigate a
lineup um those aren’t conversations
that are had anymore nobody’s fault um
it’s just the the nature of the game
where it’s at right now but if that mind
shifts switches yep and teams start um
incentivizing okay how do we get guys
out three times because right now third
time through line up they’re looking for
an excuse to take you out because
analytically it says that batters have
more success they going to happen um you
know um so I can’t I can’t sit here and
blame anybody but the second that you
start incentivizing pitchers staying in
the game longer throwing 110 pitches
throwing 100 pitches you know working
navigating the lineup then the the the
trickle down permeates all the way to
Little League Baseball you know
everybody’s trying to get to this level
so that’s another great Point sorry to
cut him off like this isn’t just a major
league problem this is starting in
college and before that it’s starting in
high school and Babe Ruth and little
league this one goes all the way down
the chain and they’ve got to reverse it
not just for big Leaguers they’ve got to
reverse it for kids right now you know
you want to go play D1 now you got to
throw hard and you got to spin the ball
well you want to go to the minor leagues
you got to throw hard spin the ball well
and you know it all it all starts from
here down um the second that you start
incentivizing pitching and guys are
getting drafted because they can pitch
and get guys out then that goes down a
level and then down a level and down a
level and you know I just hope that we
don’t wait too long cuz uh can it can uh
you know it’s obviously a pandemic and
it’s going to take years to work itself
out because everybody right now little
league on go look no further than
Instagram I can’t I can’t look at my
Instagram feed without seeing you know
some kids trying to learn how to throw
as hard as they can at 10 years old I
sure as hell didn’t do that you know I
didn’t figure it out until College I
matured in my body I was you know I I
say it all the time if I looked if if I
came up in today’s world I don’t know
what would happen my sorry but it’s also
a point too that your elbow and your
ligaments they don’t fully mature kind
of like a human’s brain doesn’t until
about 25 or 26 years old and by 25 or 26
you’re spinning C balls in Major League
Baseball and you’ve probably been doing
it already for a decade panics were a
little different I was tall langly lean
you know Lang skinny lean uh weird kind
of hadn’t hit my maturity went to
college didn’t get drafted went to
college and kind of grew into myself and
all the studs started throwing hard but
it wasn’t because I did some you know
program to make me throw harder so it’s
hard hard question wow that was the end
of a 4minute answer by the way and look
Justin Verlander a competitor he’s been
doing this a long time he’s got the
longevity he’s come back he’s had
amazing success over the years and
decades fully respect what he’s done and
I really respect his approach to that I
love the fact that pitchers are talking
about this I love the fact that people
are talking about this but at some point
we’ve got to get past just talking about
it there needs to be action baseball and
I’m not just talking about Major League
Baseball the baseball Community needs to
actually do something to remedy this
problem otherwise we’re just going to
keep looking at it year after year and
saying well that’s a shame oh that’s too
bad we have complete control over this
this is not out of human
control you made it here to the end of
the video you know I appreciate that
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