One of the major topics dominating the conversation around baseball at the start of the 2024 season was injuries to pitchers.
Several big name pitchers either began the MLB season hurt or made it only a few starts before suffering long-term injuries. The questions about pitcher health have gone all the way to commissioner Rob Manfred as people aim to find a solution.
Manfred, MLB’s commissioner since 2015, has been widely panned for his response to various critical issues and his handling of some of the game’s biggest moments over the last 10 seasons. But one issue he has not frequently discussed is the rise in pitcher injuries and what can be done to curb it.
He spoke about the subject recently, giving some data-backed answers while downplaying the severity of the issue and whether or not anything needs to be done about it, according to Evan Drellich of The Athletic:
“Early in the season was not an aberration,” Manfred said. “There is a pattern that has been an early season problem for a while.”
Manfred said that the data shows that injuries for pitchers have been on the rise for the last 10 years, but a recent newer trend could overtake that:
Overall, Manfred said the data shows that injuries “kind of went along in a flat zone, and then in 2014 or so, we started with this upward trend.”
“And actually, we had a little downtick (last year),” Manfred said. “I mean the line looked like it turned the other way. I don’t mean to minimize it, but it looked like it turned the other way. We don’t know what that means, whether that’s going to continue or not.”
Perhaps Manfred is right and pitcher injuries are not as big a deal as it seems on the surface. It’s possible that with the way pitching has changed over the past decade — favoring velocity — this is the nature of the game and injuries are going to happen.
But hopefully, if the 2023 downtick turns out to be an aberration instead of a trend, Manfred and MLB can find a solution sooner rather than later.
MLB umpire Ángel Hernández retires
MLB umpire Ángel Hernández retired, effective immediately, to end a career that began in 1991. He was promoted to a full-time MLB umpire in 1993.
The 62-year-old last worked an MLB game on May 9. Jacob Metz replaced Hernández’s on Lance Barksdale’s crew. Hernández’s retirement comes on the heels of umpiring just 10 games last season because of a back injury.
Hernández was among the most well-known umpires, but that largely was due to the ire he regularly drew from players, managers and fans alike. Though, Hernández’s reputation and accuracy with calling balls and strikes was recently defended by fellow umpires in an article published by The Athletic.
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