How the Rays and Dodgers Are Cracking the Code to Stop Pitching Injuries Before They Happen
Tommy John surgery? Back in the day, it was a desperate hail-mary—a last-ditch, hope-for-the-best repair for pitchers staring down the barrel of a career cut short. Fast forward to now, and it’s become almost routine—MLB clubs roll through forty-plus pitchers annually with the expectation that at any moment, one of them might be dialing to schedule the infamous operation. Crazy evolution, right?
Think about Tommy John himself—a lefty who never had the fireworks in his arm, clocking the mid-80s with a sinking fastball and yet finding his groove as the Dodgers’ reliable arm in ’74. No elite strikeout wizardry like Andy Messersmith or the airtight Hall of Famer charisma of Don Sutton. What he had was something that rarely gets the spotlight: persistence. Taking the mound inning after inning, shutting hitters down without them ever sniffin’ first base.
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