MLB Pitchers Paying For Overusing Fastballs, A Cautionary Tale For Colleges

Independent studies show MLB pitchers are doing more damage to their arms with the more velocity and fastballs they throw.

Is velocity overrated? We all love to see hitters "blown away" by a 99 mph fastball, but is it the best thing for the pitchers themselves? It's time to ask some serious questions about the health of baseball's hardest throwers.

Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci took this question to some of the best minds on sports medicine and came away with the most exciting study information to date on the effects of velocity on the arms of baseball pitchers.

As a youth growing up and playing baseball for many years before transitioning to adult softball, I heard coaches' opinions differ on what age pitchers should begin attempting to throw a curveball because of potential issues with their elbows. 

I never once heard a coach say throwing too hard could also be an issue, but it is, as is now being proven by MLB pitchers who consistently throw in the mid to upper 90's for many years.

No, not every baseball pitcher can reach the mid to upper 90's, it's not physically possible for every human to produce that much velocity. It's also not necessary. 

First Luis Severino broke. Then Chris Sale. Now Noah Syndergaard. When it comes to pitching health, these are hard times for hard throwers.

All three were All-Star pitchers in 2018. All three were among the 20 hardest-throwing starting pitchers in the majors that year. Severino and Syndergaard ranked 1-2. Sale just made it inside the top 20, as did Michael Fulmer, Jameson Taillon, Chad Kuhl and Shohei Ohtani, if he had lasted long enough to qualify.

All of them had Tommy John surgery in the past 17 months to repair a torn elbow ligament. The breakdown rate is staggering: one-third of the 21 hardest-throwing starters blew out in less than a year and a half.   

While velocity is a good thing, there is proof that one can be just as good, if not better, without consistently throwing that hard.

Baseball Hallo Fame pitcher Greg Maddux never reached 95 mph or higher in his career, but he is considered one of the top-10 best pitchers of all time by many. 

How did Maddux do it? Control and lots of it.  

Tim Corbin and his Vanderbilt Commodores baseball program are one of, if not the top producers of college pitchers in the nation, producing some of the biggest names in the big leagues over the last ten years. 

Former Commodore pitchers rarely suffer from severe issues or undergo Tommy John Surgery. 

Some of that should be attributed to Corbin and how he and his staff developed pitchers and call pitches during their college careers. 

In 2017, Price dodged the procedure after meeting with two of the most prominent orthopedic surgeons in the nation in Dr. James Andrews and Dr. Neal ElAttrache.  

"[They told me] that I have a very unique elbow, and I've heard that before but not from guys that have done the surgeries they've done and looked at as many elbows as they've looked at. So just to hear it from those two guys, it felt good," said Price in a 2017 MLB article.

Those of us who played baseball at any level and grew up with a love of the game will continue to watch. Still, perhaps it's time we fall in love with the changeup and teach pitchers about location and accuracy and take some pressure off their arms with less velocity and more consistency. 

Find Verducci's entire article looking into the issue here. 

Follow Greg on Twitter @GregAriasSports and @SIVanderbilt or Facebook at Vanderbilt Commodores-Maven.