BJ Hermsen out for the season after UCL replacement surgery

[Thrylos]

Suffered an injury earlier this Spring, decided to do the surgery today.  Maybe this explains the horrible 2014

[curt1965]

You'd think that every pitcher coming out of high school would want to get that surgery over immediately, and then start his career!

[ashbury]

I forget the name(s) but there has been at least one pitcher who has re-ruptured his ligament. So.... no to pre-emptive cutting.

[PseudoSABR]

Why No Rest & Rehab!?!

[biggentleben]

 

You'd think that every pitcher coming out of high school would want to get that surgery over immediately, and then start his career!

 

That's just silly.  With 80% of pitchers (per Baseball Prospectus studies, among others) being able to return at all levels (regardless of performance level returning, which is a much lower percentage), I think even suggesting such things is like suggesting someone remove their testicles because down the road if they happen to get testicular cancer, they will have to lose them anyway.  Strong example, I understand, but an apt one in this case.  You would never, ever suggest a young person who is typically still not finished growing to have a pre-emptive surgery that is at the moment unneeded.  I will allow you to donate to the legal funds for every doctor who would ever make such a suggestion as they will absolutely lose their license.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Why No Rest & Rehab!?!

 

Must be fully torn, not partially. The Twins have many instances where they have had the surgery right away (Randy Rosario, Tyler Stirewalt, Corey Williams, Fernando Romero in the last couple years). 

[biggentleben]

Instead, I think we, as fans, and we, as baseball (yes, we're not GMs or owners, but we pay their bills by buying tickets/concessions/licensed merchandise), need to re-evaluate what we've changed with our young people who are attempting to hurl a white spheroid at unheard of speeds with physics-defying movement.

 

Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine always could throw 92-95.  They simply didn't have to.  They were absolute masters of location with multiple fastball grips and (at least in Maddux's case) multiple changeup grips.  You put a ball in the spot where no hitter can get great bat on it within the strike zone, and you win every time as a pitcher.  Instead of high-end velocity being rare and a finishing tool like a huge breaking curveball, those high-movement and high-velocity pitches are now required of any prospect deemed worthy of moving up a system.  

 

I was disgusted when I was asked to be the pitching coach of our local legion ball team two summers ago.  In the first session with the pitchers, I worked with them on fastball grips and tons of location drills.  After a full week, we'd spent all of about one hour even discussing breaking balls (out of 14-16 hours total time of work during the week), and I had two complaints - 1. How could I know how good a pitcher a kid was if I wasn't allowing them to throw full tilt, and 2. How could I know how good a pitcher is if I'd never seen any of them throw their breaking pitches?  Yes, every single one of them at 14 years old was already not just throwing one breaking pitch, but multiple breaking pitches.

 

The crazy part is, in comparison to someone living in Texas or California or Georgia, every one of these kids would be considered low-mileage as far as arm wear because they only pitched about 6 months of the year, not year-round like many young pitchers do starting around age 10.

 

Fix what little league, legion, high school, and college coaches are doing to young pitchers' arms, and you'll fix the TJ issues.

 

/soapbox

[PseudoSABR]

 

Must be fully torn, not partially. The Twins have many instances where they have had the surgery right away (Randy Rosario, Tyler Stirewalt, Corey Williams, Fernando Romero in the last couple years). 

I figured as much.  My sarcasm must have been lost, as I think it's pretty clear there's reasonable distinction between injuries that certainly require invasive surgeries and those injuries where rest and rehab are more appropriate path for the human being that happens to be a baseball player.

[Platoon]

Instead, I think we, as fans, and we, as baseball (yes, we're not GMs or owners, but we pay their bills by buying tickets/concessions/licensed merchandise), need to re-evaluate what we've changed with our young people who are attempting to hurl a white spheroid at unheard of speeds with physics-defying movement.

 

Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine always could throw 92-95.  They simply didn't have to.  They were absolute masters of location with multiple fastball grips and (at least in Maddux's case) multiple changeup grips.  You put a ball in the spot where no hitter can get great bat on it within the strike zone, and you win every time as a pitcher.  Instead of high-end velocity being rare and a finishing tool like a huge breaking curveball, those high-movement and high-velocity pitches are now required of any prospect deemed worthy of moving up a system.  

 

I was disgusted when I was asked to be the pitching coach of our local legion ball team two summers ago.  In the first session with the pitchers, I worked with them on fastball grips and tons of location drills.  After a full week, we'd spent all of about one hour even discussing breaking balls (out of 14-16 hours total time of work during the week), and I had two complaints - 1. How could I know how good a pitcher a kid was if I wasn't allowing them to throw full tilt, and 2. How could I know how good a pitcher is if I'd never seen any of them throw their breaking pitches?  Yes, every single one of them at 14 years old was already not just throwing one breaking pitch, but multiple breaking pitches.

 

The crazy part is, in comparison to someone living in Texas or California or Georgia, every one of these kids would be considered low-mileage as far as arm wear because they only pitched about 6 months of the year, not year-round like many young pitchers do starting around age 10.

 

Fix what little league, legion, high school, and college coaches are doing to young pitchers' arms, and you'll fix the TJ issues.

 

/soapbox

Bert Blyleven gets criticized, sometimes justly, for his commentary during games. But on one subject he is consistent and correct. Do not let undeveloped arms throw breaking pitches. This should be controlled by the youth leagues, it's the only way to enforce it during games. Fastballs, change ups, and location. That's it. And no splitters, those things are probably harder on your arm than a properly thrown curve ball.

[ashbury]

 

I think even suggesting such things is like suggesting someone remove their testicles because down the road if they happen to get testicular cancer, they will have to lose them anyway.

Rest and Rehab has always worked for me, so far.

[TRex]

 

Must be fully torn, not partially. The Twins have many instances where they have had the surgery right away (Randy Rosario, Tyler Stirewalt, Corey Williams, Fernando Romero in the last couple years). 

Alternatively, as I tried to lay out in the Thorpe thread, they acknowledge the limited efficacy of R&R  and prefer to do TJ surgeries in spring/early summer because it provides the optimal rehab schedule. Therefore, if you are diagnosed in late summer or over the winter, they try R&R, but you proceed to surgery pretty quickly if you are diagnosed in spring/early summer.

[Mike Sixel]

Good luck to him. 

[biggentleben]

 

Bert Blyleven gets criticized, sometimes justly, for his commentary during games. But on one subject he is consistent and correct. Do not let undeveloped arms throw breaking pitches. This should be controlled by the youth leagues, it's the only way to enforce it during games. Fastballs, change ups, and location. That's it. And no splitters, those things are probably harder on your arm than a properly thrown curve ball.

 

I will say as a guy with very large hands and short fingers, splitters were not hard on my hands nor my arm.  A true split finger thrown by someone who has the hands for it is really just spread fingers on a fast ball, which gives it a different spin and final 10 feet of movement.