This has really impacted my enjoyment of baseball. It feels really hard to get invested in a pitcher when you know there is a large chance he’s just gone for a year+. Not sure what the solution is here
‘Mini-bombs’ blowing up the elbows of baseball’s top pitchers
21–30 of 51 posts
Re: ‘Mini-bombs’ blowing up the elbows of baseball’s top pitchers
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sometimes my arm hurts just replicating some of their pitches in slow motion. I have a long held belief that the most talented pitchers of all time never made it to pro ball for exactly this reason. A less commonly acknowledged attribute is being enough of a genetic freak that one's arm doesn't slag out.
Or could it be that part of talent as sportsman is to have genes/body that is at extreme of the curve. There is talent to be able to throw one ball, but entirely an other talent to be able to keep throwing nearly as good balls. And later has much more value in professional setting.
That is already true for most pro sports, the people that make it to the top are already freaks of nature.
Re: ‘Mini-bombs’ blowing up the elbows of baseball’s top pitchers
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is doping and there is doping. I don't see why athletes over say 30 can't do some mild oral steroids to bring them back to the testosterone levels of a 25 year old. Would help with recovery and probably lessen the severity of injury.
>I don't see why athletes over say 30 can't do some mild oral steroids Because you've never met an athlete, I guess. None of them would stop at "mild".
Then why would they stop at none?
Re: ‘Mini-bombs’ blowing up the elbows of baseball’s top pitchers
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
If destroying your body is an acceptable tactic I'm not sure what the fuss about doping is about.
There is doping and there is doping. I don't see why athletes over say 30 can't do some mild oral steroids to bring them back to the testosterone levels of a 25 year old. Would help with recovery and probably lessen the severity of injury.
Medical studies agree that steroid use reduces life expectancy, it's one of the core reasons why they're highly regulated. Not only does it reduce life expectancy, but time spent healthy is reduced as well, meaning that not only might you die a number of years earlier, you'll run into age related illnesses a number of years earlier as well.
Re: ‘Mini-bombs’ blowing up the elbows of baseball’s top pitchers
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sometimes my arm hurts just replicating some of their pitches in slow motion. I have a long held belief that the most talented pitchers of all time never made it to pro ball for exactly this reason. A less commonly acknowledged attribute is being enough of a genetic freak that one's arm doesn't slag out.
Or could it be that part of talent as sportsman is to have genes/body that is at extreme of the curve. There is talent to be able to throw one ball, but entirely an other talent to be able to keep throwing nearly as good balls. And later has much more value in professional setting.
That's basically my point. The ability to persist is undersold when people talk about required talent. The most physically gifted quarterback on the planet is worth nothing if he gets ripped in two the first time he's sacked.
Re: ‘Mini-bombs’ blowing up the elbows of baseball’s top pitchers
#26I care less about pro players who hurt themselves, and more about the 16-21 year olds. Anecdotally, our area has a ton of travel baseball teams, which start at kindergarten. Highly competitive leagues. These kids tend to have daily practice starting in kindergarten. There are three local high schoolers who have had Tommy John surgery. It's like they're proud of it. An it's terrifying. If the pitch clock comes into th…
We have this weird system where if you aren't good enough to become a doctor purely on academics we will also consider how good you are at baseball. It's quite insane on its face but it's how lots of midwits end up with "advanced" degrees. Those dad's are probably trying to make that happen.
Do advanced programs give athletic scholarships? I've never heard of a master's program offering that nor have I ever seen Yale Medical School's baseball team.
Re: ‘Mini-bombs’ blowing up the elbows of baseball’s top pitchers
#27I care less about pro players who hurt themselves, and more about the 16-21 year olds. Anecdotally, our area has a ton of travel baseball teams, which start at kindergarten. Highly competitive leagues. These kids tend to have daily practice starting in kindergarten. There are three local high schoolers who have had Tommy John surgery. It's like they're proud of it. An it's terrifying. If the pitch clock comes into th…
Pitch clock and similar rules are not coming to little league, that’s absurd. The pitch clock was implemented because pro games take 3+ hours. Children’s games don’t have time/clock issues, and kids don’t even start pitching their own games until they are 11ish.
Youth baseball is completely different than pros - kids throw way fewer pitches way less frequently. With the exception of extreme high school/college coaches, but those coaches will be extreme regardless.
Re: ‘Mini-bombs’ blowing up the elbows of baseball’s top pitchers
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is almost universally true for any professional sport. Ultimately, it's personal preference, and the people at the top are committed to fighting to get to the top anyway.
If destroying your body is an acceptable tactic I'm not sure what the fuss about doping is about.
It's about keeping danger to the athlete to a moderate level.
The line has to be drawn somewhere because a pro athlete will do the dumbest thing to gain an advantage. And with doping, we've nearly seen where this can end with pro bicycle riders like Bjarne with a hematocrit of 64%.
Some sports ban certain techniques to protect athletes, just some examples: * Backflip in figure skating * Sommersault in longjump * Spinning javelin in javelin throw * Cartwheel in shot put
Re: ‘Mini-bombs’ blowing up the elbows of baseball’s top pitchers
#29We’re seeing more frequent injuries in other sports too like golf and tennis. I think all the computer technology for analysis has allowed to hone in on and optimize specific things. This creates better performance but maybe pushes things to their limits.
Re: ‘Mini-bombs’ blowing up the elbows of baseball’s top pitchers
#30This has really impacted my enjoyment of baseball. It feels really hard to get invested in a pitcher when you know there is a large chance he’s just gone for a year+. Not sure what the solution is here
Raise the pitching mound? Make the ball dead? The back and forth between "keep the game interesting" and "make the game easier for pitchers" has been going on for decades.