Under The Knife 9/20/23

Fifty Percent of the Game

Want to hear something funny? I forgot to make the announcement on Monday that I’d teased, because I was updating the Ohtani section right up to hitting “publish”. First, nothing changes here. Same schedule, same information, same commitment to readers. In fact, I’ve largely been working in this new role for the better part of a few months and I think that being able to juggle this, UTK, and writing about the NFL at FanBuzz has been good time management on my part.

For the past twenty years plus, I’ve been writing about sports injuries and sports science. There’s no question that while we’ve seen progress and progression, there’s still a lot more work to do. That’s why I started looking for opportunities to take what I’d learned and researched and put it into real world action - as a consultant with pro teams, as a baseball coach, and in working with sports tech companies - which I’ve been able to do over the last few years.

Now, I’m doing it again, helping start a new company called NTangible Sports. The company has a simple test that can help predict performance, especially in high-leverage situations. We think it’s going to help players, coaches, recruiters, scouts, and the game overall by helping identify traits for success.

I’ve called it a “radar gun for the brain” but that’s not quite it. Instead, I think about all the data entering the game - spin rate, exit velocity, physical readiness - and wondered why we can’t do the same for the mental aspects of the game, which as you know, Yogi said was half of it. This is another piece of data that is going to help guide the training and the game usage.

I’d love to show you more and will as the company comes out of stealth. I’m excited about helping the game, and more, with this very cool company. For now, on to the injuries:

SANDY ALCANTARA, SP MIA (sprained elbow)
FELIX BAUTISTA, RP BAL (sprained elbow)

I got several questions and comments this week as both Sandy Alcantara and Felix Bautista make playoff-focused comebacks from UCL sprains. “How does this happen?” and “how are they doing this when everyone else needs Tommy John?” sum them up, with the “why isn’t Shohei Ohtani doing this?” mixed in.

The answer is really detailed and technical, but boils down to early diagnosis and better interventions. The first is a combination of pitchers trusting the medical staffs and the wider availabilities of ultrasound imaging. Instead of waiting for an MRI, players can now get a very accurate ultrasound on the spot. If there’s even small damage, it can be addressed immediately.

The intervention is also quicker. A couple teams have areas they’ve built to have the kind of centrifuge needed for PRP. This is not a huge expense and the darn things can be bought on Amazon for the price of an Apple Watch. Again, the ultrasound comes into play and the PRP and other biologics can be injected directly to the damaged area, with the needle guided by the ultrasound.

This video, while not baseball, gives you an idea how this can work:

This isn’t a miracle, but science and a very small expense. Doing so gives these pitchers and these teams a chance to get their pitchers back in cases where just a few years ago, they’d be shut down and potentially headed for surgery. Imagine where we’ll be in a few more years.

SHOHEI OHTANI, DH/SP LAA (sprained elbow/strained oblique)