Grayson Rodriguez 2022

[Ripken]

Well, there's always 2023, I guess.  Means will be the mid season addition as we prepare to be competitive in 2024.

[NelsonCruuuuuz]

53 minutes ago, WarehouseChatter said:

This was likely mentioned somewhere in the thread, but I’m going to say it anyway.  Let’s say this is a 3-6 month injury.  That’s disappointing for every organization, but it’s downright awful and possibly devastating to a low-spending (call it small market if you want) organization.  If we miss on 1 big prospect (GR will heal at some point, but let’s say this is the beginning of an injury-plagued career) it sets us back years.  For the Yankees, it would stink, but they would fill in with free agents.  We won’t be able to do that.   MLB has the worst system in all of sports as it relates to competitiveness.  What the Rays have done is miraculous.  We’re not the Rays and I don’t know if we can get there.  Taking GR out of this leaves DL Hall who already has injury concerns.  
 

I’m saddened by the situation with GR and hope he heals up quickly, but this just shed light on the macro concern of our true long-term ability to remain competitive.  

Great post. The pipeline of SP talent runs dry quickly after GR & Hall. Not sure what the plan is…it isn’t spending money so…endless rebuild. Just keeping kicking the can until new ownership arrives. 

[spiritof66]

2 hours ago, Going Underground said:

Peachy is the flavor of the month but not for the Orioles  

More like Rocky Road

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

46 minutes ago, NelsonCruuuuuz said:

Great post. The pipeline of SP talent runs dry quickly after GR & Hall. Not sure what the plan is…it isn’t spending money so…endless rebuild. Just keeping kicking the can until new ownership arrives. 

The Astros acquired (high priced) veteran pitchers in Verlander and Greinke. If the Orioles develop a surplus of position player talent in theory they could do the same.

One problem, I am unconvinced the Angelos family will spend that much money on pitchers that will make the Orioles a playoff team. 

[Aristotelian]

1 hour ago, NelsonCruuuuuz said:

Great post. The pipeline of SP talent runs dry quickly after GR & Hall. Not sure what the plan is…it isn’t spending money so…endless rebuild. Just keeping kicking the can until new ownership arrives. 

One injury to a player should not call the whole rebuild into question. For sure the timing sucks and it is a bummer.

[Explosivo]

6 hours ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

The Astros acquired (high priced) veteran pitchers in Verlander and Greinke. If the Orioles develop a surplus of position player talent in theory they could do the same.

One problem, I am unconvinced the Angelos family will spend that much money on pitchers that will make the Orioles a playoff team. 

You need only look at mid to late 2010s to see that clearly, they will and now we will get much better and more talented free agent pitchers because Camden is much less a home run park.

Edited June 3, 2022 by Explosivo

[Legend_Of_Joey]

If he is out until mid July/early August and then starts throwing again, I could see him going to the AFL after the season.

[Jagwar]

13 hours ago, seak05 said:

Grade 1 is like a month to 6 weeks

grade 2 is 2-3 months 

grade 3 is surgery and see you in 2023

MLB.com has a slightly shorter timeframe for lat strains in their glossary. 

"Recovery time varies depending on the strain, with Grade 1 strains typically requiring 2-3 weeks and Grade 2 strains usually taking at least a month. Grade 3 strains often require surgery, however, and can come with considerably longer recovery periods."

[DrungoHazewood]

21 hours ago, Orioles0615 said:

Not that this is related that we know so far as of now, but why is there so much emphasis and hype on pitchers throwing so hard, when it seems to lead to so many injuries? 

Corn said this many pages ago, but there is a strong correlation between velocity and effectiveness.  You can Google some studies, but more-or-less an average pitcher who throws 97 would be a 90th-percentile pitcher who throws 92.

In the beginning baseball was a sport where pitchers pitched, almost like in horseshoes. Underhand, stiff elbow and no snapping wrist, there were no called balls or strikes because it was expected that the pitcher would pitch the ball up so the hitter could put it in play.  The game was supposed to be a battle between hitters and fielders.  Pitchers could do that all day long with barely any risk of injury. The pitchers didn't cooperate. They threw as hard as they could without flagrantly breaking the rules.  Over time they convinced the powers-that-were to loosen up the rules.  So from about 1860-1884 they went from horseshoe pitching to essentially modern overhand deliveries, and the injury risk went from nothing to "dude, every single pitch you throw could be your last".

[Hank Scorpio]

OUR PETS HEADS ARE FALLIN' OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[RZNJ]

8 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Corn said this many pages ago, but there is a strong correlation between velocity and effectiveness.  You can Google some studies, but more-or-less an average pitcher who throws 97 would be a 90th-percentile pitcher who throws 92.

In the beginning baseball was a sport where pitchers pitched, almost like in horseshoes. Underhand, stiff elbow and no snapping wrist, there were no called balls or strikes because it was expected that the pitcher would pitch the ball up so the hitter could put it in play.  The game was supposed to be a battle between hitters and fielders.  Pitchers could do that all day long with barely any risk of injury. The pitchers didn't cooperate. They threw as hard as they could without flagrantly breaking the rules.  Over time they convinced the powers-that-were to loosen up the rules.  So from about 1860-1884 they went from horseshoe pitching to essentially modern overhand deliveries, and the injury risk went from nothing to "dude, every single pitch you throw could be your last".

No science behind my post but throwing hard/max is not the culprit. It's the pitches and different grips that put more pressure on the elbow and shoulder.  A changeup is thrown with max effort.  Even though the ball doesn't travel as fast, a pitcher whose getting screwball action on it might be putting more stress on his elbow with the 87 mph changeup than the 97 mph fastball. 

IMO, if pitchers threw nothing but max effort fastballs you'd see a drastic reduction in injuries.  Not that it would ever happen.

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, RZNJ said:

No science behind my post but throwing hard/max is not the culprit. It's the pitches and different grips that put more pressure on the elbow and shoulder.  A changeup is thrown with max effort.  Even though the ball doesn't travel as fast, a pitcher whose getting screwball action on it might be putting more stress on his elbow with the 87 mph changeup than the 97 mph fastball. 

I'm sure the blame can be spread among a variety of factors.

 

[DrungoHazewood]

6 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I'm sure the blame can be spread among a variety of factors.

Yes, but I think RZNJ is mostly right.  Velocity is a byproduct of max effort, and throwing at the limit of human physiology is what's causing most injuries.  I don't know if throwing just max-effort fastballs would reduce injuries significantly.

You'll sometimes hear people say that today's pitchers have more injuries because they don't throw enough.  They need to build up their arm strength and then they could handle 300 innings a year and 20 complete games. I think that's a misunderstanding of what's going on. It's not wear-and-tear from pitching too much, it's a sudden failure of a tendon or ligament from strain.  It's not so much getting worn out from pitching too much like a marathon runner getting tired, it's more like a power lifter ripping something trying to clean-and-jerk 800 pounds.

And it's complicated by the drown-the-witch method they used to use with pitchers. Yes, some pitchers like Nolan Ryan or maybe Bob Gibson would throw 300+ innings with very significant effort and survive.  But the vast majority couldn't.  Since you can't identify who can handle that workload without letting them try, the world has fallen back on not letting anyone try in attempt to keep most pitchers healthy.  There are obvious ways to limit innings, but there aren't any obvious ways to limit effort on each pitch. You can tell a guy he'll reduce his injury risk greatly by backing off 20%, but then he washes out of the game in A ball.

[sportsfan8703]

IIRC GR has been pretty healthy. I’m chalking this one up to the heat wave. Not just his two outings during it, but they’re also out in it on their off days. Not bubble wrapped in AC. 
 

I’m sure they’re are lots of people walking around with heat related cramps right now just from cutting the grass. 

[Sports Guy]

25 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

IIRC GR has been pretty healthy. I’m chalking this one up to the heat wave. Not just his two outings during it, but they’re also out in it on their off days. Not bubble wrapped in AC. 
 

I’m sure they’re are lots of people walking around with heat related cramps right now just from cutting the grass. 

This isn’t a cramp. He pulled a muscle.