NEW YORK — Major League Baseball says pitcher injuries are more likely to occur during spring training and early in the season.
Management has rejected an assertion by players’ union head Tony Clark that injuries might be linked to the pitch clock that was instituted last year and slightly shortened this season.
“In 2014 or so we started with this upward trend,” commissioner Rob Manfred said Thursday after owners were presented with data. “It looked like it turned the other way last year. We don’t know what that means, whether that’s going to continue or not. I think in terms of the lens, early in the season was not an aberration. There is a pattern that has been an early-season problem for a while.
Cleveland’s Shane Bieber, Atlanta’s Spencer Strider, Boston’s Lucas Giolito, the New York Yankees’ Jonathan Loáisiga and Miami’s Eury Pérez are among the pitchers who have been sidelined by elbow injuries this year.
