Is modem pitcher training/philosophy still worth the costs?

[Stratos]

The explanation for the glut of Cubs pitcher injuries this year is " this is just the reality in 2026".  That's likely very true, but is it an acceptable excuse?  If we're doing something the rest of the league is doing, and the result is better velo/stuff and lower ERAs from pitchers but they're unable to stay off IL, then maybe it's  time to reevaluate the wisdom of that entire strategy.

At what point do the benefits not outweigh the costs?  Improving a pitcher's ERA by e.g half a run or a full run is great, but it's not useful if they aren't healthy and the roster is filled with replacement- level pitchers. 

Would we rather have Steele and Horton putting up e.g 3.80 ERAs instead of Cy Young. numbers but avoiding multiple elbow surgeries?

It makes sense for the pitchers with borderline talent to take the risk, but what about everyone else?  Will teams & players start taking the gas off the throttle a bit?

[Jason Ross]

They will not. Instead, expect teams to invest more lottery tickets into pitching. Especially with pitchers on pre-FA deals. "Churn and burn". 

They will gladly take a few years of elite performance for throwing them on an IL to replace them with the "next batch" of dudes who throw 98+mph. 

From a humanity standpoint, it's kind of gross. But sadly, that's sports. Humans are treated as commodities and players will take the risk for generational wealth. 

[KCCub]

12 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

They will not. Instead, expect teams to invest more lottery tickets into pitching. Especially with pitchers on pre-FA deals. "Churn and burn". 

They will gladly take a few years of elite performance for throwing them on an IL to replace them with the "next batch" of dudes who throw 98+mph. 

From a humanity standpoint, it's kind of gross. But sadly, that's sports. Humans are treated as commodities and players will take the risk for generational wealth. 

They're becoming the running backs of baseball. 

But yea, there's no putting the cat back in the bag at this point. Velocity = Outs. Velocity training at younger ages is becoming more and more prevalent.

[Rcal10]

30 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

They will not. Instead, expect teams to invest more lottery tickets into pitching. Especially with pitchers on pre-FA deals. "Churn and burn". 

They will gladly take a few years of elite performance for throwing them on an IL to replace them with the "next batch" of dudes who throw 98+mph. 

From a humanity standpoint, it's kind of gross. But sadly, that's sports. Humans are treated as commodities and players will take the risk for generational wealth. 

So is it inevitable that guys like Miz, Skenes, Skubal and Burns WILL get hurt. Not “if” but when they get hurt someone else will step in? I have noticed the Brewers let their young pitchers throw more than 100 pitches a game. Miz did it against the Cubs and just a few days ago Sproat threw 106. Will they be regretting this soon? 

[Jason Ross]

19 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

So is it inevitable that guys like Miz, Skenes, Skubal and Burns WILL get hurt. Not “if” but when they get hurt someone else will step in? I have noticed the Brewers let their young pitchers throw more than 100 pitches a game. Miz did it against the Cubs and just a few days ago Sproat threw 106. Will they be regretting this soon? 

I think it's very likely, yes. Not *every* pitcher goes down with TJS, but the reality is the more people who throw the way these guys do, the more risk and potential damage they're doing. Some people are genetic freaks who won the lottery of throwing 99mph and can withstand that. Others not so much. 

Will they regret it? My guess is no, as long as they get paid. 

To put it another way; NFL players consistently put their brains in danger, I suspect MLB pitchers will value their arms less than their brains, all things considered. 

[Outshined_One]

It also helps to remember that, over the last 20 years, there have been massive advances in the Science of Baseball (for lack of a better term), particularly when it comes to hitting.  It's not just things like advanced stats (although those helped), where teams have figured out things like optimal swing paths and launch angles, and have also invested heavily in technological advances for developing hitters and gaining a competitive edge.  We've apparently gotten to the point where you can feed data about any pitcher in baseball into a pitching machine and have it mimic that pitcher reasonably well.

Velocity appears to be the only thing that consistently generates swing and miss.