An Inferential and Descriptive Statistical Examination of the Relationship Between Cumulative Work Metrics and Injury in Major League Baseball Pitchers

Karakolis, Thomas; Bhan, Shivam; Crotin, Ryan L.

doi:10.1519/jsc.0b013e3182785059

Cited by 20 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 7 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Hence, inning limits alone cannot be used to protect young professional pitchers from injury. 21 A prior study by Karakolis et al 20 examined the association of cumulative workload metrics and injury in MLB pitchers. Metrics included games pitched, total innings pitched, total pitches thrown, innings pitched per game, and pitches thrown per game.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unaccounted Workload Factor: Game-Day Pitch Counts in High School Baseball Pitchers—An Observational Study

Zaremski

Zeppieri

Jones

et al. 2018

Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background:Throwing injuries are common in high school baseball. Known risk factors include excessive pitch counts, year-round pitching, and pitching with arm pain and fatigue. Despite the evidence, the prevalence of pitching injuries among high school players has not decreased. One possibility to explain this pattern is that players accumulate unaccounted pitch volume during warm-up and bullpen activity, but this has not yet been examined.Hypotheses:Our primary hypothesis was that approximately 30% to 40% of pitches thrown off a mound by high school pitchers during a game-day outing are unaccounted for in current data but will be revealed when bullpen sessions and warm-up pitches are included. Our secondary hypothesis was that there is wide variability among players in the number of bullpen pitches thrown per outing.Study Design:Cross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 3.Methods:Researchers counted all pitches thrown off a mound during varsity high school baseball games played by 34 high schools in North Central Florida during the 2017 season.Results:We recorded 13,769 total pitches during 115 varsity high school baseball starting pitcher outings. The mean ± SD pitch numbers per game were calculated for bullpen activity (27.2 ± 9.4), warm-up (23.6 ±8.0), live games (68.9 ±19.7), and total pitches per game (119.7 ± 27.8). Thus, 42.4% of the pitches performed were not accounted for in the pitch count monitoring of these players. The number of bullpen pitches thrown varied widely among players, with 25% of participants in our data set throwing fewer than 22 pitches and 25% throwing more than 33 pitches per outing.Conclusion:In high school baseball players, pitch count monitoring does not account for the substantial volume of pitching that occurs during warm-up and bullpen activity during the playing season. These extra pitches should be closely monitored to help mitigate the risk of overuse injury.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unaccounted Workload Factor: Game-Day Pitch Counts in High School Baseball Pitchers—An Observational Study

Zaremski

Zeppieri

Jones

et al. 2018

Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…1 and 2). Increased total cumulative work has been shown to increase risk of injury in youth baseball players, but this has not as reliably been demonstrated in professionals [9,55].…”

Section: Preventionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Injury Prevention in Baseball: from Youth to the Pros

Melugin

Leafblad

Camp

et al. 2018

Curr Rev Musculoskelet Med

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Overuse is the predominant mechanism of injury in youth baseball players. Newer stretching and exercise protocols may help prevent these injuries. At the professional level, however, overuse has not been proven to correlate with increased injury incidence, but pitch counts are still monitored. There continues to be a rise in operations performed for baseball-related injuries, including ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction, particularly in younger athletes. As the level of play increases, there is significant loss of participation due to injuries, such as the UCL in the upper extremity and the hamstrings in the lower extremity. Baseball is a widely popular sport, which has led to a focus on injury epidemiology and prevention. While the majority of research regarding baseball injuries focuses on pitchers, fielders and catchers are also at risk. In an attempt to decrease non-contact injuries in the upper and lower extremities, stretching and strengthening exercises are vitally important. Because injury profiles demonstrate significant variability from youth to professional baseball, unique prevention strategies are likely necessary at each level. More research is needed to develop and validate appropriately targeted injury prevention programs.

show abstract

“…Total appearances, total innings pitched, total pitches thrown, innings pitched per appearance, pitches per appearance were not significantly associated with the injury in MLB pitchers. 30 While this study was not specific to UCL injuries, it does provide evidence that work metrics alone are not sufficient for predicting and preventing injury in elite pitchers. In addition, single game and cumulative pitch counts have not been linked to meaningful changes in pitching performance.…”

Section: Risk Factorsmentioning

confidence: 84%

Optimal management of ulnar collateral ligament injury in baseball pitchers

Hibberd¹,

Brown²,

Hoffer³

2015

OAJSM

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The ulnar collateral ligament stabilizes the elbow joint from valgus stress associated with the throwing motion. During baseball pitching, this ligament is subjected to tremendous stress and injury if the force on the ulnar collateral ligament during pitching exceeds the physiological limits of the ligament. Injuries to the throwing elbow in baseball pitchers result in significant time loss and typically surgical intervention. The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of current information to sports medicine clinicians on injury epidemiology, injury mechanics, injury risk factors, injury prevention, surgical interventions, nonsurgical interventions, rehabilitation, and return to play outcomes in baseball pitchers of all levels.

show abstract

An Inferential and Descriptive Statistical Examination of the Relationship Between Cumulative Work Metrics and Injury in Major League Baseball Pitchers

Cited by 20 publications

References 7 publications

Unaccounted Workload Factor: Game-Day Pitch Counts in High School Baseball Pitchers—An Observational Study

Unaccounted Workload Factor: Game-Day Pitch Counts in High School Baseball Pitchers—An Observational Study

Injury Prevention in Baseball: from Youth to the Pros

Optimal management of ulnar collateral ligament injury in baseball pitchers

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About