The Stephen Strassburg Debate

If you are a major league baseball fan, then you have probably heard that the Washington Nationals plan on shutting down their ace pitcher, Stephen Strassburg, after he pitches around 170-180 innings this year.  What is their rationale for doing this?  Strassburg is a young pitcher, and he had ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction surgery (Tommy John surgery) a little less than 2 years ago.  Their theory is that by limiting the number of innings he pitches in his first full year of pitching after the surgery, they will help prevent him from becoming injured in the future.  Is this the right approach to take? 

The Argument for shutting him down: There is no doubt that the overhead throwing motion used by baseball pitchers places a lot of stress on the shoulder and elbow.  Most of these pitchers begin pitching at a relatively young age, and the cumulative stress of every inning pitched, bullpen session, and warm-up throws can lead to a degradation of the soft tissue of the shoulder and elbow.  A torn UCL is often times not the result of one traumatic event, but an accumulation of small tears in the ligament that cause it to weaken over time and eventually rupture during the execution of a pitch.  Also, labrum (the cartilage lining of the socket of the shoulder) tears in pitchers often occur due to the repetitive stress placed on the joint from throwing thousands of pitches.  This is why the Nationals want to shut Strassburg down.  He is relatively young, he already had one major surgery, and has the potential to win many games for them in the future.  By shutting him down early, they will help prevent excessive stress from being placed on his arm, and they are counting on this to keep him healthy in the future.

The Argument against shutting him down: From a purely baseball prospective, the goal is to win as many games as possible, make it into the playoffs, and win the World Series.  The Washington Nationals are not a franchise rich in postseason history.  This is their best chance to make it to the World Series.  The franchise has only been to the playoffs one time in their history.  Strassburg is one of the best pitchers in baseball, and to have a good chance of winning in the postseason, you really need your best players to play.  Also, there is no evidence to suggest that by shutting Strassburg down, he will not have a major injury in the future.  There have not been any studies conducted to investigate this question.  Also, Strassburg recently had his UCL reconstructed, so at this point, it should be very strong.  The Nationals should have a good team for the next few years, but in sports, you never know how many chances you are going to have to win a championship.

What would I suggest?  If it were me, I think I would continue to let him pitch, but would closely monitor his pitching mechanics for signs of fatigue and breakdown.  If Strassburg started to make changes to his throwing motion because he was fatigued due to all the pitches he has thrown this season, I would consider shutting him down or giving him a break.  The Nationals could also limit his innings over the last few weeks of the season so he could pitch a few games in the postseason without throwing an excessive number of innings.  However, you have to admire the Nationals organization for taking a pro-active stance on the number of innings they are going to allow him to pitch.  It seems like a majority of the time teams place winning ahead of player safety (especially football), so it is refreshing to see a team take a stand like this.  Hopefully it works out for Strassburg and he is able to have a long and relatively injury free career.  Even if Strassburg does not sustain another major injury for the rest of his career,  it will not be possible to cite his shutdown this year as the cause.  There are too many factors that effect whether or not an athlete sustains an injury to credit one singular event.