Abstract

In recent years, mainstream media has increasingly reported concern over the amount of arm injuries among baseball pitchers. Current literature validates this concern with regard to injury rates at the elbow in baseball players. In collegiate baseball, elbow injuries account for 15.5% of musculoskeletal injuries. Previous research has suggested that professional pitchers are disproportionately affected by upper extremity injuries when compared to professional position players. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe and analyze injury rates in Major League Baseball from 2020 to April 23, 2024. A secondary purpose of this study was to describe and analyze the economic impact of UCL reconstruction among MLB pitchers from 2020 to April 23, 2024. Data on MLB players being assigned to the Injured List (IL) was collected from a publicly accessible website that housed all MLB IL reports from 2020 to present. This information is publicly available due to provisions within the MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement that allow for the public disclosure of sports-related health information. Data on MLB salaries were collected from a publicly accessible website that housed information on professional athletes’ contracts with professional organizations. Frequencies, means, and standard deviations were calculated where appropriate. Independent samples t-tests were performed to assess differences between pitchers and position players related to days into the season before injury, number of days on the IL, incidence of UCL related surgery, incidence of all elbow surgeries, and incidence of shoulder surgeries. Across all four full seasons, pitchers accounted for no less than 55.3% of all injuries reported on MLB IL reports. On average, pitchers spent more on the IL (Pitchers=49.6±51.2, Position Players=33.4±35.1, t(2812)=9.792, p<.001). From the 2022 season to the 2023 season, there was a 126.1% increase in total salary dollars paid to pitchers who underwent UCL reconstruction surgery. When looking at the last three full previous seasons and the 2024 season through April 23, the upward trend was still present. While this study captured a relatively small sample of data, the increased incidence of UCL reconstruction surgeries early in the season is concerning. Future studies should the impact new MLB pitching rules has on forces at the elbow and forearm muscle fatigue during pitching.