Nolan Ryan and the Tommy John Surgery Era

Well I figured I'd use my sports writing to publish an opinion related to baseball.

Don't assume by the title that I am blaming Nolan Ryan for the rise in Tommy John surgery. Nolan Ryan retired in 1993. He is one of the best pitchers ever. He is by definition one of the hardest workers ever. I've read that he pitched year-round while many others were not. His numbers don't lie that it benefited him. However, I believe that what was good for Ryan is not good for everybody.

Take a look at this list on MLB.com. http://mlbreports.com/tj-surgery/ 

The first Tommy John surgery was performed on it's namesake Tommy John in 1974. It was revolutionary as this injury normally ended a pitcher's career. But notice throughout the 70's there was only one other Tommy John surgery performed. The next one after 1977 would be in 1985 on David Wells, then steady after that it went from a rate of 1-2 every year up 10 in 1996. This tended to balloon to around 20 in 1999, about 30 in 2002, and from the looks of it in 2012 the numbers get even worse. According to many sources, 1/3rd of active major league pitchers have undergone the surgery sometime in their life. After 1997 you never again see a number of surgeries less than 10 in the Majors. Keep in mind this is not counting the number of high school, college, and minor league pitchers having the surgery. The years from 1985 up when the sunset on Nolan Ryan's career, seemed to bring about this mentality for young and upcoming pitchers that they have to have an overpowering fastball, and be like Nolan Ryan. So, year-round pitching becomes a trend. Keep in mind that pitching is not a natural motion and puts wear on the arm and shoulder. The UCL in the elbow is  flexible, but has proven to be fragile when overused.

I've been watching my hometown Braves for years. during the era of the trio, Maddux and Glavine were not known as overpowering pitchers. Smoltz who got inducted into the hall of fame today was. Smoltz is the first pitcher to go into the hall of fame after having the surgery. I personally find it a travesty that Tommy John himself didn't when you look at his numbers. Smoltz of course would transition to closer and play 7 more years in his career between starting and closing. I really agree with Smoltz said today about year-round pitching. He mentioned that there are many players having the surgery by the age of 14. Another fair reminder is careers usually do not survive a 2nd surgery. I've found often that players who have the surgery at a young age will later re-injure themselves and need it again. The Braves has two promising pitchers coming up a few seasons ago in Brandon Beechy and Kris Medlen. Within just a span of less than 4 years, both of them went from dominating the league to their 2nd Tommy John surgery, and my team is in rebuilding mode. These two were suppose to anchor the rotation for years to come. They dominated hitters during their healthy years. Many stars on other teams ended up having the surgery after their first year pitching. Strasburg, Harvey, and Wheeler are just some examples of guys who maybe one injury away from a 2nd and usually career ending T.J. surgery.

I've also noticed that there is more emphasis on an overpowering fastball in scouting to. For example it is hard to get drafted out of college unless you have a 95mph fastball. Glavine and Maddux were control pitchers with low 90's fastballs, and they still performed better than many power pitchers. I've heard so many people say that they want to pitch year-round to add some heat to their fastball, but really you are not really much more dominate by adding 3 more mph to your 92mph fastball. I am at the belief that that extra heat is not worth ruining a pitching arm.

Somewhere mistakes have been made, as Smoltz pointed out we may never see another 300 game winner again if this continues. The sad thing is, it is preventable. This did not happen much before meaning it is not suppose to happen.

Just because this technique made Nolan Ryan a champion does not mean it will make your children champions. Most likely it will tear up their arms.