Under The Knife 9/23/22
Nothing Routine about Clayton Kershaw
It’s not often you get to see a major league pitcher’s day to day routine, in detail. Clayton Kershaw did that for my pals over at Mustard, Tom House’s program, and it’s worth looking at. If you’re in or around baseball, there’s not much here that’s going to surprise you, but a couple things stand out to me.
First, there’s very, very little about his back or any sort of maintenance program. I asked Lindsay Berra, who wrote this up, whether Kershaw was tailoring things to the audience - the kids who use Mustard and hopefully don’t have chronic back issues - and she agreed. While I understand that you speak to the audience, I’m curious where the back fits in. In terms of time, it’s something that often takes hours. Pudge Rodriguez and Vladimir Guerrero Sr both spent time daily working on this and the results paid off. I’m not doubting Kershaw’s focus or work ethic here, but it’s a gap if we’re trying to get real details.
Second and related, I’m a bit disappointed he doesn’t give more credit to the medical staff. They’ve done a lot of work maintaining Kershaw and keeping him as productive and functional. Again, audience, but credit where credit is due, I always say. I’d like to see more players do this, not just Kershaw.
However, all that aside, I think this is an amazing insight into just how much goes into the between-start cycle for any pitcher. Kershaw may not be too much into the data or video, but he’s so good he doesn’t have to go chasing small advantages. House has been building pitchers for decades now; it’s twenty years since I wrote Saving The Pitcher, largely based on the things he took time to share with me. That he’s still sharing, creating a program like Mustard, where he can get pitchers like Clayton Kershaw to be accessible and show at least some of what goes behind the curtains is a great thing.
Now, on to the injuries:
JULIO RODRIGUEZ, OF SEA (back spasms)
The back spasms for Julio Rodriguez have progressed to the point of concern. The Mariners medical staff has sent him for an MRI, expected to take place on Friday. It’s a pure recurrence of the same type and location, with the imaging designed to find out what the cause of the issue is, if possible. It may not be. Lower back issues are notoriously difficult to diagnose, even with the best of imaging, leaving medical staffs and patients to struggle and flail, chasing symptoms.
Do a search for “back pain cure” and you’ll find millions, from the technical and tested to the most snaky of snake oil. Cushions and creams, braces and bracelets. Indeed there may not be a cure at all, but a maintenance program for the age-21 players who’s signed for the next decade plus is likely to be key to how that turns out. (Or, it could be nothing, a blip barely remembered from his rookie season.)
Rodriguez is going to miss Friday, an indication this will be a more advanced MRI with dye involved that needs to clear the body before physical activity. Last weekend, he missed three days, but the Mariners are not only trying to lock in the wild card, but chasing wild card position, for whatever that’s worth.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see a visit to a specialist mixed in here, either now or immediately after the season. The hope is that this is minor, but one thing to keep in mind is that Rodriguez recently signed a big contract that is partially insured. That means there were extensive physicals as part of it and there’s no way something like this wasn’t checked. That indicates that this is something relatively minor, but nonetheless problematic given the time of year and the upcoming playoffs.