Glenn Flesig On Tommy John Incidence | MLB Trade Rumors

When looking for the magic bullet in the correlation / causation argument, a key phrase from the article sticks out in my mind.

 "since the recovery rate is so high, teams are willing to project a return to normality for prospects". 

Looking back to the 70's - 80's and even the early 90's, having Tommy John surgery was considered a Hail Mary pass for aging veterans. Since 1994-95, due to the miracle of modern medicine and advances in rehabilitation, the surgery has gone from pariah to panacea for pitchers of all ages. 

It used to be considered like a major overhaul to the pitching arm and now it's looked on as more akin to a tune-up. It has become almost an enhancement to a prospects career more than a detriment. All in one generation. 

Oh, The Times They Are A-Changin'.......... Thanks Bob.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
Keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again

Don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'

For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they, they are a-changin'

Read more: Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-changin' Lyrics | MetroLyrics 

from MLB Trade Rumors:
Glenn Flesig On Tommy John Incidence – MLB Trade Rumors:

Injury expert Glenn Flesig discussed the latest Tommy John surgery epidemic at the annual Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, writes Matthew Leach of MLB.com. Flesig, who holds a doctorate in biomedical engineering, is the partner of Dr. James Andrews at the American Sports Medicine Institute (ASMI). The institute aims to “improve the understanding, prevention and treatment of sports-related injuries through research and education.”

Flesig presented data on both professional and youth pitchers. At the professional level, 16% of pitchers have had Tommy  John surgery. Flesig found that once pitchers have recovered from the procedure, “they have the typical flexibility and typical mechanics. So they’re back to normal.” Of course, lost time and the potential for complications means that it’s best to avoid the issue in the first place.

Of course, UCL replacement can often impact free agency and the trade market. The increased incidence of the injury last season had some teams reaching for outside help. The Braves were able to call upon Ervin Santana on a one-year deal when Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy both required a second procedure. Atlanta forfeited a draft pick when they signed Santana. We saw both Medlen and Beachy sign short-term, incentive-laden contracts this winter.

Since the recovery rate is so high, teams are willing to project a return to normality for prospects. Last June, the Blue Jays drafted Jeff Hoffman ninth overall. The Nationals took Erik Fedde with the 18th pick. Both pitchers had Tommy John surgery shortly before the draft.

A study of youth pitchers could reveal the way to decrease the incidence of elbow injury. Flesig offered a few convincing correlations. Youth pitchers who threw over 80 pitches in a game were four times more likely to require surgery. Those who pitched for more than eight months a year were five times more likely.

Pitching when fatigued was the biggest risk indicator. Youth who self-identified as having “often pitched” when fatigued were 36 times more likely to go under the knife. For the parents in the audience, don’t let your kid pitch too often or when fatigued.

'via Blog this'

I like that the stats community is getting interested in this and disseminating some of the knowledge down to where it belongs, at the youth level. The professionals are just that, professionals. They can do what they want and they have the best of the best out there helping them make informed decisions.

It seems like there are still organizations scattered out there that are thirsting for this type of direction and information. It appears that MLB has to get a grip on issues like this and that may require a bit of centralization. Colleges, high schools and youth leagues are going to have to be willing to give up some autonomy in exchange for some of this information. We'll see at that point who really cares about kids and who cares more about pocketbooks and bottom lines.

New commissioner Rob Manfred has made some noises about a USA Baseball type of umbrella,

Get the right information into the right hands and let's see what happens.

from Irvine Youth Sports Parents Blog:
http://irvineyouthsportsparents.com/

Our Mission

The mission of the Irvine Youth Sports Parents Network is to provide a forum for parents to exchange ideas and information on youth sports while promoting  the ideals of student-athlete citizenship.

Irvine is a city known for its cultural diversity, academic excellence and love of athletics. Our children are citizens first, students second and athletes third.

We believe in “sport as metaphor” – that 99.9% of our children will not go on to become professional athletes but take what they learn from athletics and pursue excellence and competition in other endeavors.

It is our hope that this organization can support the early nurturing of those dreams.

The Professionalization of Youth Sports

14. October 2014 · Write a comment · Categories: clubs, money, youth sports

Youth sports is a serious business.

Take a look at this piece in the Boston Globe on a proposed $150 MILLION Youth Sports Facility backed by Red Sox executive Dan Duquette and slated for construction on Cape Cod.  The growing money trend in youth sports is incredible. It’s estimated that the Travel Ball world of tournaments ALONE represents $7 billion per year and is projected to grow at 4% per year.Not only are athletic fields being constructed all over the country but so are the hotels for housing players and their families.

The benefits of youth sports have morphed from fun and development into trophies and cash.  The payoff has shifted from kids to adults.

When kids are polled about why they play sports their top three answers are:

1. To have fun

2. Be with friends

3. Do something I’m good at.

Nothing there about cash or hardware.

Clubs that get paid money to coach kids need to remember that sports doesn’t last forever.

But the values they impose do.

And the best values of sport are based on character…not cash.

Travel Ball, Tournaments and Tommy John Surgery

14. October 2014 · Write a comment · Categories: clubs, youth baseball, youth sports

“We mathematically, statistically, scientifically have proven that the kids who play baseball year-round are three times more likely to end up on a surgery table by their 20th birthday that those who don’t,”

Glenn Fleisig, of the American Sports Medicine Institute, citing a 10-year study targeting teenagers who pitch more than 100 innings in a calendar year.

A lot of youth baseball parents have lost their minds.

That is the only conclusion any rational human being can come to when they are faced with the reality of this chart below indicating the exponential rise of Tommy John Surgeries for baseball pitchers.

What is it going to take before we parents realize that not only are we wasting too much of our time and money on travel ball and tournaments but we are also wasting the physical health of our children.

Isn’t that ironic?

Here we are putting our boys in a situation to enjoy their physicality and fun with friends and twisting it all up in a perfect mess of ego gratification and delusions of grandeur.

“Major League Baseball gets the blame for pitchers getting injured,” says Fleisig, “But the fact is these pitchers definitely have some damage in their arm when they get them.”

Consider the case of Jameson Taillon.  His elbow gave out recently at the age of 22 and after just 382 professional innings, all of them monitored with extreme caution by the team that handed him $6.5 million out of high school, the Pittsburgh Pirates. Taillon had been throwing more than 90 miles per hour since he was 16 and a sophomore in high school. He threw as hard as 99 mph as a senior.

According to Sports Illustrated…

“Beginning in July 2008, when he was 16 years old, Taillon threw at six events sponsored by Perfect Game, one of the country’s top youth baseball services, in a 13-month period. Those events occurred in the summer, fall and winter. (In the spring, he was busy pitching for his high school team in The Woodlands, Texas.) His top velocities were meticulously recorded: 92, 93, 95, 96, 96 and 97. Every high school pitcher is known by the top velocity he “hits,” even if he gets there once, as much as his very name.

As a high school senior, Taillon hit 99. In June of that year, 2010, the Pirates selected him with the second pick of the draft, in between Washington selecting Bryce Harper and Baltimore taking Manny Machado. He was labeled as another “can’t miss” in the long line of Texas schoolboy power pitchers, including Josh Beckett and Roger Clemens.

Now he joins another long line: First-round high school pitchers who are blowing out their arms before they even accrue any major league mileage — a line that hardly existed as recently as five years ago.”

The problem is that parents and coaches are seeing results in all the private training, tools and techniques they are using to capture “increased velocity”, the buzzphrase of the moment in baseball.  The combination of year round travel ball and too many tournaments is putting a strain on young arms while the average speed of major league pitchers has increased from 90 MPH to 92 MPH.

But forget for a moment that you’re a parent of a prodigy because, like me, you’re not.

But you still have to suffer in this system and so does your boy.

The suffering comes whether he is an average player or shows a bit of promise.

If he’s average he’s going to be relegated to the worst positions on the field and he’s going to stop playing with some of his friends who are moving up to more competitive divisions.  If he’s got a little something extra, welcome to increased batting practice, throwing lessons and all kinds of private training just to keep up.

It can become stressful on everyone.

The difficulty is that you can see differences, measurable differences, in kids that put in extra time and those that don’t.  You CAN get results and that’s what gets everyone in a lather.  The reality is your really don’t know what you have until post puberty.

My wife and I struggle with this and try to remind ourselves…they’re kids.  And they deserve not be burdened with our unfulfilled ambitions but to simply experience the short-lived joy of being a kid.