Under The Knife 8/9/23

Y Day

In the sports science world, there’s an ongoing debate about terms. Whether a program is called “injury prevention” or “risk reduction” is, to me, semantics. The goal is roughly the same, or at least aligned. Less injuries, more players on their chosen fields. In baseball, there’s honestly not much of this in an organized fashion. I guess you could call long toss or modern warm up techniques or advanced active recovery something of a risk reduction, but we haven’t seen the results yet, nor over the last twenty years.

That’s not to say there haven’t been results or that the things teams have done haven’t had value. A working theory I’ve had is that modern techniques have reduced the rate of increase in the face of what would have been a devastating raw increase. Pitcher programs have led to increased velocity, but injury rates haven’t gone up at the same level. It should be much more one to one and it’s my belief that while there’s an increase in count, there’s not as much of an increase. That’s actually a win.

I’ll have more data on this, but I’m curious what the consensus is from smart readers. Have baseball teams done enough, especially at the youth level, and what more can be done? For now, let’s see the injuries that weren’t prevented:

RONALD ACUNA JR, OF ATL (bruised arm)

I say “#paddedglove” when players get hit on the hand, losing days or weeks to bruises, fractures, and pain, but #paddedelbow has been here for decades. I remember first seeing the guys from Evoshield in the lobby of the Opryland Hotel, like so many things in baseball. Acuna was hit in the arm, just above the elbow guard, back in the triceps area, though every report I’ve seen says elbow. Watch the video and I think it’s easy to see. 97 to any part of the body hurts.

X-rays showed no fracture, but that would be really unusual, even at 97, in a muscled part of the body and a large bone like the humerus. Acuna was in clear pain, because he’s human, and the question now is how much the pain lingers, how much bruising, and how much inflammation. Most of us have been hit by something and know the pain lingers, but not usually days like what happens with a near-100 mph hardball. Acuna escaped the worst of it, but could still miss a day or two, with the Braves shorthanded in the outfield.

JOSH JUNG, 3B TEX (fractured thumb)

Josh Jung might have lost the Rookie of the Year. He’s close with Gunnar Henderson and Masataka Yoshida, but fractured his thumb on a freak fielding play.