Baseball's Thorny Mess

The FanGraphs Newsletter, April 8, 2024 [READ IN BROWSER]( April 8, 2024 If last week’s news that Eury Pérez would need Tommy John surgery was bad, Saturday was a whole lot worse. Within a span of five hours, the baseball world learned that the Guardians’ Shane Bieber, the Yankees’ Jonathan Loáisiga, and the Braves’ Spencer Strider have all incurred significant damage to their ulnar collateral ligaments, with Bieber headed for Tommy John surgery, Loáisiga set to undergo season-ending surgery as well, and Strider headed to see Dr. Keith Meister, the orthopedic surgeon who will perform the surgeries of the other two. The losses of those pitchers is a triple bummer, not just for them and their respective teams — each of which leads its division, incidentally — and fans, but for the sport in general. Underscoring the seriousness of the issue, by the end of Saturday both the players’ union and Major League Baseball traded volleys regarding the impact of the introduction of the pitch clock on pitcher injuries in general. The idea that the pitch clock could be contributing by making pitchers dial up to maximum intensity with less time to recover between pitches has intuitive appeal, but injury rates had already risen before the clock’s introduction last year. On the subject of velocity, the link between Strider’s high velo and the propensity for such pitchers to require Tommy John is hard to miss. Of the top 15 starting pitchers in terms of average four-seam fastball velocity from 2021–23, 10 have undergone at least one surgery to repair their UCLs, and Strider is in danger of becoming the fourth to need a second: [Read More]( [FanGraphs Power Rankings: March 29–April 7]( The Yankees, Pirates, and Guardians all got off to a hot start and surged up the first regular season run of the FanGraphs Power Rankings. | by Jake Mailhot [A Visual Scouting Primer: Pitching, Part Two]( Let's dive into pitch shapes! | by Tess Taruskin [Top of the Order: Trevor Story’s Injury Tests Boston’s Thin Infield Depth]( Today, we look at how Trevor Story’s injury affects Boston’s middle infield situation. Plus, the Nationals have a weird defensive alignment. | by Jon Becker [Sunday Notes: Adam Cimber Dropped Down For Under-the-Radar Success]( Plus a pitch timer violation question, an NPB strategy oddity, time zone travel, Graham Pauley, facts and stats galore, and more. | by David Laurila [Board Update: Scouting Reports for National League Rookies Are Live]( eports and tool grades for 18 rookie-eligible big leaguers are now on The Board. | by Eric Longenhagen 🎧 [Effectively Wild Episode 2148: Backyard Baseball]( [DOWNLOAD THE FANGRAPHS APP]( [FanGraphs & Effectively Wild Merch Is Now Available at BreakingT!]( [ORDER HERE]( [Why MLB must act now on alarming rate of pitching injuries]( by Jeff Passan, ESPN [Pitching injury crisis has no easy fix, but baseball’s leaders better get to work on one]( by Ken Rosenthal, The Athletic ($) [Aaron's No. 715 turns 50: Celebrating the anniversary of his iconic HR]( by Mark Bowman, MLB [These 3 AL West Pitchers Can Rebound in 2024]( by Patrick Connors, Pitcher List [@fangraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [RSS]( [FORWARD]( [SUBSCRIBE]( Copyright © 2024 FanGraphs Inc, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the FanGraphs Newsletter. Our mailing address is: FanGraphs Inc 3017 N Underwood StArlington, VA 22213 [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](