Royce Lewis, Injuries, and Stupid Luck

And........ it could just be genetics.

The pattern over the past 1+ year would argue against dumb luck....

It could be just the way he is built, but that should be the conclusion only AFTER a full review of his stretch and strength regiment. 

Yoga?

Muscle weakness is a common characteristic following ACL reconstruction, yet there is a surprising lack of research looking into the presence and persistence of weakness in muscle groups other than the quadriceps. However, there is evidence that muscle activation patterns (specifically the co-activation of the gluteal and adductor muscles) are impaired for up to two years following surgery.

Thank you Lucas for this very interesting article. That confirms my assumptions. I somewhat expected some soft tissue problems with Lewis as I did with Buxton, Polanco, & Kiriloff after a prolonged stint on the IL due to knee, wrist & shoulder problems. My approach is to be very proactive, Because competitive players like Lewis & Kiriloff aren't going to tell you that they are hurting, especially Kiriloff because his job is on the line. Pure hitters like Kiriloff & Mr. I don't do slumps Lewis, in most cases when they slump it's because they are hurting & it affects their swing. In Lewis & Kiriloff's cases it should set off red flags, where Lewis & Kiriloff should have been set aside & told, "You are sitting, where does it hurt? Let's resolve this".

IMO Paparesta is doing a great job. Now management needs to step up & do a better job. IMO Baldelli is better than most but I'm suggesting to go further out of the box thinking of playing hurt until you drop.

1 hour ago, Original_JB said:

And........ it could just be genetics.

Ah genetics. The scapegoat we can use for everything. Wipe our hands, shrug our shoulders and walk away. Maybe. But as Lucas has outlined and in great detail by the way a much more plausible explanation. His body is simply compensating for not one major injury but 2. Those being major knee surgery. That combined with the massive bulk that Royce has put on I think combine to lay it out in front of us. The body doesn’t simply recover when the IL time is up but rather it takes years to gradually build up and transfer the compensation back to the injury point. Genetics may be a small part of it but I think we fail to realize how the body works in a top of the line athlete. What we should ask is how many abdominal muscle area pulls he had before is 2 major knee injuries. Again thanks to Lucas Seehafar for this great in depth article!

Unfortunately I think it's looking more and more like Lewis is a "Buxton 2.0". Immensely talented, capable of carrying the whole team for weeks at a time, but injured WAY too often. Hoping for a quick and successful recovery, we'll need him for the playoffs if we get there. On a positive note, at least we got Brooks Lee to fill in. Nice to see him get two hits and an RBI in his debut:)

Nice article.  Injury prone is better determination than dumb luck.  Your comment about people not understanding the muscle skeletal system is probably quite true as most of us are not doctors.  So why then do most players on most teams play most of the year without the major injuries.  Yes there has been a plethora of injuries throughout MLB.  But most still play most of the time.  We have put up with all the nonsense and mostly non playing career of Buxton.  Lewis appears tge same.  We should be used to it.

Some players are just injury prone and we have had more than our share. let's hope Lee can hit major league pitching and Miranda and Castro keep going. I guess we'll see where we are in late August to determine if we should shut Lewis down for the year.

At this point, I don’t think we call it luck.  Could be, but it seems really unlikely to me.

Some people may be phenomenal athletes, but their bodies can’t handle it for whatever reason.

Maybe they started strength training too early and things didn’t develop properly.

Maybe too much strength training.  Some people’s bodies can’t handle the additional load/force.

Maybe they weren’t well rounded enough in their activities and things didn’t develop properly.  My son plays hockey and you hear it from a lot of high level coaches now that focusing all year on hockey isn’t great for their development as an athlete.  Sports all rely on different muscle groups in varying ways.  High end guys now do one thing rigorously all year as children in the hopes of scholarships, going pro, etc.  It can come with consequences.

Genetics was mentioned above, and it’s valid (some responses would lead you to believe it’s not).  Some bodies can’t handle it no matter what you do to your body.

I grew up with a guy who was one of the best baseball players I’ve seen.  Great athlete, naturally.  Very minimal strength training, not a muscle-bound guy by any stretch.  Very gifted runner, extremely fast.  4 sport athlete that excelled at everything.  He seemed to do everything right developmentally, incredibly fit, his body just couldn’t handle it.  He had hamstring problems that started in high school and got progressively worse until he was basically forced off his college baseball team.  Later on in his 20s, he couldn’t even play slow pitch softball anymore, despite being one of the best players in the state (when he could play).  The guy could not run without incurring a soft-tissue injury.

Who knows the root cause.  But, it’s definitely looking like Royce’s body is just breaking down.  If so, there’s nothing that can be done.  If you’re to the point where you have to devise ways to keep guys healthy via telling them not to do routine athletic activities (don’t run bases more than half speed, etc.), it’s probably already over.

It certainly could be luck.  But, to me, that sounds like much more of a coping mechanism than “genetics.”  Getting hit by a pitch, running into another player, stepping on a base wrong, running into a wall, etc. all seem like a “luck” write-off.  There’s something you could’ve done differently.  Repeated non-contact soft-body and ligament injuries to your legs while running or fielding a ball….there’s an underlying problem.

2 hours ago, Original_JB said:

And........ it could just be genetics.

In some cases, this could be the case but in Lewis's case I doubt it. This all started with a freak accident of a Southern California kid unfamiliar with ice in Texas. Playing 3B IMO helps to slim the chances of another ALC but he remains susceptible to soft-tissue injuries independent of heredity. 

IMO this will limit what Lewis can do. But if properly managed he can still be very successful in this 2 yr. span.

I would think some people are just more prone to injury than others. I look to boxing where some clearly have a stronger "chin" than others. There are boxers who can stand so much punishment it can be hard to watch. Mohammed Ali is known for great skill, but it was his chin and stamina that were the separators. There really isn't a way to study this I would guess. 

You can have two boxers go through the exact same training camp and in the end why is it one is more durable and or clearly has better stamina? They are two different organisms.

I watch Willi Castro fly around the field and the bases. He plays anywhere you stick him without any problems. When Willi is flying around I enjoy watching. When Buxton or Lewis are flying around I brace myself. 

When I see Lewis running the bases, I have thought more than once that he is moving in a way that is not to the point of "reckless" but is not really contained either.  Not "smooth."   I have worried that he might get injured, but of course we all are because of his injury history. 

8 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

Muscle weakness is a common characteristic following ACL reconstruction, yet there is a surprising lack of research looking into the presence and persistence of weakness in muscle groups other than the quadriceps. However, there is evidence that muscle activation patterns (specifically the co-activation of the gluteal and adductor muscles) are impaired for up to two years following surgery.

Thank you Lucas for this very interesting article. That confirms my assumptions. I somewhat expected some soft tissue problems with Lewis as I did with Buxton, Polanco, & Kiriloff after a prolonged stint on the IL due to knee, wrist & shoulder problems. My approach is to be very proactive, Because competitive players like Lewis & Kiriloff aren't going to tell you that they are hurting, especially Kiriloff because his job is on the line. Pure hitters like Kiriloff & Mr. I don't do slumps Lewis, in most cases when they slump it's because they are hurting & it affects their swing. In Lewis & Kiriloff's cases it should set off red flags, where Lewis & Kiriloff should have been set aside & told, "You are sitting, where does it hurt? Let's resolve this".

IMO Paparesta is doing a great job. Now management needs to step up & do a better job. IMO Baldelli is better than most but I'm suggesting to go further out of the box thinking of playing hurt until you drop.

On June 20th Lewis said "Hey, I don't do this slump thing"

Lewis said "he began feeling a tightness in that area during the Twins’ series at Oakland from June 21-23. And when he tried to run out a double on Tuesday, the pain intensified to the point he didn’t think it was safe to continue."

As I thought Lewis's slump began when he started to feel tightness in that area. Shortly after his slump started he should have been approached.

10 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

On June 20th Lewis said "Hey, I don't do this slump thing"

Lewis said "he began feeling a tightness in that area during the Twins’ series at Oakland from June 21-23. And when he tried to run out a double on Tuesday, the pain intensified to the point he didn’t think it was safe to continue."

As I thought Lewis's slump began when he started to feel tightness in that area. Shortly after his slump started he should have been approached.

Maybe he should retire then.

44 minutes ago, RpR said:

Maybe he should retire then.

How did you come to that conclusion on what I said? What has shortening slumps & injury time has to do with retiring?

22 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

How did you come to that conclusion on what I said? What has shortening slumps & injury time has to do with retiring?

You are playing doctor to make excuses for his first failure, IF he is tha fragile, he career will be short.

He had a slump probably becauxe pitchers now  know his weak spots, not some medical glitch.

His health, he will deal with it as he sees fit, and I do not think holding back is part of his equation.

22 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

 

Sometimes I wonder if guys like Royce and Buxton are reaching a point where mechanics/ refined training have made it so the cream of the crop athletes are becoming too explosive to prevent injury. 

Top end pitchers have been going through this for years with the increased velocity and spin.  The human body can only handle so much repeated stress focused on a couple points of failure.

Sports cars like Buxton and Royce can out preform but are under very high stress, making them prone to blow out at critical points in the process of generating that power/ speed.

12 hours ago, RaoulDuke said:

Sometimes I wonder if guys like Royce and Buxton are reaching a point where mechanics/ refined training have made it so the cream of the crop athletes are becoming too explosive to prevent injury. 

Top end pitchers have been going through this for years with the increased velocity and spin.  The human body can only handle so much repeated stress focused on a couple points of failure.

Sports cars like Buxton and Royce can out preform but are under very high stress, making them prone to blow out at critical points in the process of generating that power/ speed.

 

They are reaching the point where they are finding their physical short comings , nothing more.

Between two gents with similar macho man physiques, one may be able to take he beating so called pro wrestlers take and say I've had worse and mean it, while the other may end up with life long cripplings.

Twenty years ago when he big boomer six gun shooting was the big deal, I would shoot the .475 Linebaugh type  revolvers and recoil meant nothing to me; a gent similar in physique would be shooting next to me and say I am done for the day, my writst is telling me to quit.

At the same time I was shooting with some gals, barely 5 ft tall, and they had no problems.

Some people are cursed with amazing looking but fragile bodies; others that would sadly be called wimps, could take a beating and keep on ticking.