Pitchers Are Creatures of Habit. A Season of Chaos Is Testing Them.

To mitigate the risk for this year, most teams have been extremely conservative with pitchers’ workloads, continuing a long trend. Through Thursday, 23 of the 30 major league teams were averaging fewer than five innings per start, taking advantage of the extra depth this season offered by expanded, 30-man rosters to begin the season.

Rosters have since been pared to 28; initially, baseball had planned to reduce the roster size again later this month, to 26, but decided last week to hold off on further cutbacks. The league has taken other measures to reduce the strain on pitchers, holding seven-inning games during doubleheaders and a putting a runner on second base in extra innings to resolve games faster.

But there was no way to fully account for the stress of pitching in real games — even without fans in the stands — after just three weeks of camp. Dr. Meister said the first month of this season would essentially be an extension of spring training, with pitchers continuing to build to top form.

“But sometimes it’s not necessarily just the buildup, it’s the spike in effort,” he added. “Guys will tell you all the time: Once the uniform color changes on the other side of the field, and you’re not throwing live batting practice and intrasquads, all of a sudden everything jumps up.”

The Rangers encouraged pitchers to back off a bit during the layoff, Dr. Meister said, but to try to stay active with regular throwing sessions. Wes Johnson, the Minnesota Twins’ pitching coach, said he wanted his starters to stay in a “holding pattern” by working four-inning simulated games throughout the break, with relievers throwing two bullpen sessions — one long, one short — per week.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/08/sports/baseball/mlb-pitching-injuries.html