1424 - MLB pitch clock and its effect on Injury

Objectives: In an effort to speed up play, MLB introduced a pitch clock to limit the time pitchers can take between pitches. Pitchers get 15 seconds when no batter is in base and 20 when one is on. While it has succeeded in lowering the time of play by nearly 30 minutes. Our objective, therefore is to assess concerns have arisen that’s it’s causing an increased number of injuries, particularly of the elbow and shoulder.

Design: Publicly available data was used to compare injury prevalence for pitchers from the start of spring training to the end of the MLB season of the respective year encompassing approximately 162 games per year. One sample T test was used to compare rates to previously reported values. Fisher exact test was used to compare categorical values.

Results: Total injuries through the year are up compared to 2022 but equal to 2021(189 vs 123 vs 189 respectively for 2023, 2022 and 2021). Serious injuries as defined by 60-day Injury list stints differed significantly 2023 and 2022 (p< 0.0001) and 2023 and 2021 (P=0.0033) with absolute values of (77 (40.7%) vs 26 (19.4%) vs 50 (26.5%)). Elbow injuries differed absolutely but found to not be statistically significantly (41 (21.7%) vs 17 (12.6%) vs 25 (13.2%) P< 0.1857).

Conclusions:

After one MLB season with the new MLB pitch clock rules., injuries to pitchers have remained similar from an absolute standpoint but the amount of significant injuries has increased. Reduced time per pitch may be contributing to increased strain without necessary rest between pitches.