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by walthamstow 1007 days ago
Is this a new thing? When was the pitch clock introduced? The article doesn't say.

Sounds very similar to the knees and other parts of cricket fast bowlers. They get up to top sprinting speed then come to an immediate halt at the crease to deliver the ball at 90+ mph while keeping their arm straight, like a human trebuchet.

Only one pace bowler in the history of the game seems to have cracked it, James Anderson, now 41yo and still playing, though he bowls closer to the 82-85mph mark.

3 comments

It is new and was introduced this season.
The pitch clock got introduced in September 2022 [1]. Their reasoning back then was that games would take 3-4 hours (or longer) and that fans were loosing interest by the bottom of the 9th. I remember being pretty exited when it got introduced as the general sentiment was "no more 4 hour games!". But it seems to me this is just another symptom of the problem of player injuries, I heard a podcast where they said the age of players getting the "Tommy John" surgery (UCL / Elbow Reconstruction) is going down. Before they said it would be rare to see a player in the MLB get the surgery, now they said even players at the high school level are getting it done.

[1]: https://www.mlb.com/glossary/rules/pitch-timer

Not to get too nitpicky, but the pitch clock actually came into effect in the majors in February 2023 (spring training) or March 2023 (regular season). It debuted much earlier in minor (2015), fall (2014), and college (2010) leagues.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_clock

I remember growing up it was such a rarity to see someone pitch 100mph. Now, it’s way more common. We’ve optimized things and seem to be at a limit in terms of speed, and arms are failing catastrophically. There’s no long term gradual wear and tear for this.
In a similar vein, wicket keepers have messed up bent fingers keeping for fast bowlers. At least MS Dhoni has this.