The Astros announced that right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. has been reinstated from the disabled list. He’d been sidelined since Aug. 5 due to a right elbow injury, but he’ll be active for the season’s final handful of games and for the postseason. Houston also recalled lefty reliever Reymin Guduan for the final stretch of play.
[Related: Houston Astros depth chart]
McCullers, 24, was cruising to arguably the best season of his big league career but hit a rough patch in mid July that saw him surrender 14 runs on 18 hits and a dozen walks in a span of 17 2/3 innings before landing on the disabled list. He’s currently sporting a 3.93 ERA with 9.9 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9 through 126 innings. That’s the largest regular-season workload McCullers has tallied at the MLB level to this point in his career, though he tossed 137 innings last year when including his postseason work and a brief minor league rehab assignment. He also logged 155 2/3 innings between the Astros and Triple-A back in 2015.
McCullers will be available for the ’Stros in relief for the time being — a role in which he shined while closing out the final game of last season’s American League Championship Series. If McCullers is to remain in the ’pen for the Astros’ postseason endeavors, Houston can still lean on Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, Dallas Keuchel and Charlie Morton as rotation options.
As for the 26-year-old Guduan, he’ll give manager A.J. Hinch another southpaw option in matchup situations. He’s yet to find much in the way of big league success, but Guduan did notch a 3.74 ERA and average 13.5 strikeouts per nine innings pitched in 55 1/3 Triple-A frames this year — albeit against an unpalatable average of 5.2 walks per nine innings.
This dude is made of glass
That’s what happens when you throw a breaking pitch more than 50% of the time. I’m shocked he hasn’t hard Tommy John.
“existing research has not consistently shown a strong connection between the curveball and injuries” except for youth but “There is evidence that players who throw harder are more susceptible to UCL injuries, ostensibly because the increased velocity correlates with force in the elbow. Many studies have shown that players who throw harder are more likely to spend time on the Disabled List or miss time due to surgery.”
m.mlb.com/pitchsmart/
So you are saying we should master the knuckle ball? That would be fun. Has there ever been a left handed Knuckleballer?
Weighed……I’m not saying anything, I am quoting reliable sources that say there is no strong connection between a curveball and TJS but there is between throwing a fastball max effort. It’s really not hard to understand considering I even provided a link to the source material on the MLB website.
Thank you Dr Andrews.
Actually Dr. Andrews heads up the MLB Pitch Smart Advisory Committee, the source that I quoted, That’s why I included a link as well as using quote marks to make it clear it wasn’t just my opinion.
The committee also includes Dr. Glenn Fleisig Research Director, American Sports Medicine Institute. “Dr. Fleisig has spent more than 25 years researching the science of pitching safety and performance. He is the recognized leader in the biomechanics of pitching, having tested more than 2,000 pitchers from all levels and published more than 150 scientific papers.” He also serves as the Chair of USA Baseball Medical & Safety Committee, [and} Pitching Safety Consultant for Little League Baseball and Softball.”
Dr. Neal ElAttrache Head Team Physician, Los Angeles Dodgers as well as “an orthopedic consultant to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, St. Louis Rams, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Kings and the PGA Tour.” He is also “Chairman of the Board of the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Foundation”
There are many of luminaries from the world of sports and orthopedic medicine on the board and each is listed in the aforementioned link.
Seems to me they are pretty reliable sources, wouldn’t you say?
Kudos, Cat. Nice to see someone one actually throw useful info on a thread. For the others on here, read The Arm.
Mic drop
Just to add more to it, Andrews and Fleisig have a published research paper that studied young pitchers over 10 years and it was determined that catching while also being a pitcher led to more injuries than just a pitcher who throws a curveball.
Fleisig and Andrews have a lot of papers out on arm injuries, but this one blew my mind because of how I was raised and the normal thinking of “curveballs destroy young arms” There was a caveat though, it had to do with having good mechanics while throwing breaking balls which I thought was weird, because a 12 year old can’t really repeat their delivery.
Yep, it’s abuse…simple wear and tear especially when young. In regards to mechanics etc when young I’ll quote the late Dr. Jobe “I don’t think throwing the curve puts that much more stress on the arm. I think learning how to throw it does. That’s why Little League kids get in trouble. They want to throw a curve so they spend every afternoon throwing to their dads, trying as hard as they can to get it.”
static.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/bp/1431308.html