New York Yankees ace and reigning CY Young award pitcher Gerrit Cole is nursing a nerve elbow inflammation injury sustained during spring. After multiple scans, specialist doctors ruled out a UCL tear scare and advised Cole to opt for non-surgical treatment programs and ensure a timely return.
However, not everyone is as lucky as Gerrit Cole. A sort of injury epidemic to pitchers has broken out in MLB, leading to concerns about the league’s pitch clock rule possibly having a negative impact. As the MLB player association went at war with the MLB commission, Cole expressed his frustrations over the lack of cooperation between the two parties in looking for solutions.
Gerrit Cole Urges MLB To Show ‘Empathy’ To Pitcher Amid Increased Cases Of Injuries!
In a major reform to speed up baseball games, MLB came up with a pitch clock rule last year, which restricted the gap between pitches to 15 seconds. However, the countdown time was reduced by 2 more seconds this year, which apparently didn’t sit well with the pitchers. Moreover, with a record number of notable pitchers encountering season-ending injuries, the MLB Player Association wrote to the MLB Commission complaining about the pitch clock rule potentially having negative implications on the pitchers. Players suspected a correlation between reduced pitch clock time and pitchers’ injuries. However, MLB dismissed the correlation accusation in a return statement citing a study by Johns Hopkins.
Meanwhile, Yankees ace Gerrit Cole is displeased with the war between the two parties. In the latest interview, Gerrit Cole said he feels disheartened to see how pitchers’ well-being is currently being overlooked. He further attacked MLB for being short-sighted about the repercussions of pitch clock implementation. Cole believes the long-term efforts of the clock on pitchers’ health will only be vividly visible after 5-6 years. “To dismiss it out of hand, I didn’t think that was helpful to the situation,” said Cole. The pitcher also added that pitchers are the most important aspect of the sport. And their well-being should be a priority over unnecessary reforms. Not only that, Gerrit Cole requested both parties to calm down their horses and work in harmony to find solutions. “We want higher performance, but we also want durability,” added the Yankees ace on player injury issues.
After Cole, Yankees Lose Another Pitcher To Season Ending Surgery!
The epidemic of injuries among MLB pitchers is spreading like wildfire. After Gerrit Cole, Shohei Ohtani, and Shane Bieber, relief pitcher Jonathan Loaisiga is diagnosed with a season-ending UCL tear injury. Notably, Jonathan, who is currently on a walk-year with the New York Yankees, will avoid Tommy John surgery and opt for UCL repair surgery.
Still the surgical routed will keep him out for the next year, thus ending his 2024 season prematurely. Moreover, with the kind of underwhelming seasons he has had in the past few years, his time with Yankees seems more of less done. He could be released by the end of year and allow to test free agency waters. Needless to say, the growing cases of injury amongst pitchers needs to be taken seriously by MLB.
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