Verlander: Slew of major pitching injuries 'a pandemic'

Houston Astros right-hander Justin Verlander believes the evolution and modernization of baseball has contributed to a dramatic rise in significant injuries to pitchers.

"The game has changed a lot," Verlander said Sunday after making a rehab start, according to Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 Houston. "I think it would be the easiest to blame the pitch clock. I think, in reality, you put everything together, and everything has a little bit of influence. I think the biggest thing is the style of pitching has changed so much. Everyone is throwing as hard as they possibly can and spinning the ball as hard as they possibly can ... it's a double-edged sword."

Verlander, who made one start between 2020-2021 due to Tommy John surgery and has yet to pitch this season because of a shoulder injury, acknowledged the problem has been brewing for years and has no easy fix.

"When the balls started to change back in 2016, and they started flying out a bit more frequently - I know myself, personally, that started changing how I had to approach pitching ... I want(ed) swing and miss," the 41-year-old three-time Cy Young winner said.

He added: "You throw that in the mix, you throw analytics in the mix, and you throw the pitch clock in the mix, and it all kind of adds up. ... The trickle-down permeates all the way to Little League (Baseball). ... I just hope that we don't wait too long ... It's obviously a pandemic, and it's going to take years to work itself out."

Meanwhile, MLBPA executive director Tony Clark said the introduction of a shorter pitch clock - a rule change applied last season - is the main culprit of the injuries. The league responded by saying the notion "ignores the empirical evidence" that increases in velocity and spin are the leading causes of arm ailments.

Spencer Strider, Shane Bieber, Gerrit Cole, and Eury Pérez are among the star hurlers to suffer major injuries over the last few weeks.