DETROIT — Every time another one of these pitchers comes along, the thought lingers in the back of everyone’s mind. No one wants to say it. No one even wants to think about it. But it has become reality in this game.
Pitchers who heave triple-digit fastballs and twirl nasty breaking pitches damage their arms.
With every young ace-in-the-making these days, we hold our breaths and try to ignore the elephant.
The uncomfortable thought tiptoed into the room May 23 after a start in which Detroit Tigers rookie Jackson Jobe battled the Cleveland Guardians admirably but never looked quite comfortable himself. After that outing, Jobe made multiple vague references to not feeling good physically.
“Today was definitely not the best I’ve felt,” Jobe said. “But not looking too much into it. Just kind of part of it.”
Can’t blame Jobe for acting like the rest of us. Maybe it’s nothing, it was easy to think. This is the major leagues. Aches and pains are part of the job.
The next time out? Jobe went 4 2/3 innings against the Giants. He gave up seven hits, walked three batters and surrendered three runs. His velocity was down all across the board. Postgame, there was no sight of the talented young pitcher the Tigers drafted third overall in 2021.
Cue the real worries.
The first medical review indicated a Grade 1 flexor strain. That meant the mildest form of the injury. This was still concerning for a young pitcher who has battled a back injury and a hamstring issue in his time in the minor leagues. But this was his first arm injury.
In many ways, Jobe represented the type of pitcher teams hope can be immune — at least for six years of team control — from the effects of pitching in the modern game. He did not emerge as a full-fledged pitcher until late in his high school career. He hardly worked as a starter until his senior year of high school. Even the time missed with non-arm injuries in the minor leagues suggested Jobe had saved some of his bullets.
It’s rarely that simple. If there were a one-size-fits-all way to save arms, everyone would be doing it.
Jobe went in for further medical evaluation. Those exams revealed damage to his ulnar collateral ligament. Now, he is headed for surgery. Speaking to reporters in Baltimore, Tigers general manager Jeff Greenberg said Dr. Keith Meister will perform the surgery. No date has been set for the procedure.
“As is standard in our medical evaluation process, we sought additional evaluations,” Greenberg told reporters. “Through that evaluation process a UCL injury was also discovered. From there, there were a series of conversations between Jackson, the doctors and our medical staff. Ultimately, surgery was determined as the path.”
Until Meister opens up Jobe’s elbow, they likely won’t know the exact nature of the procedure. The internal brace has become a trendy innovation that can stem off full UCL reconstruction. The hope is the brace, even when combined with full UCL reconstructions, can quicken recovery time and make UCLs more durable in the future.
But the amount of two-time Tommy John pitchers is also on the rise. So the fear of injury still dominates every conversation around starting pitching. It lingers when we discuss contracts extensions or big free-agent deals. It’s there when you see a young hurler like Jobe or Paul Skenes.
This spring, Hall of Fame manager Jim Leyland was talking about Skenes when the topic arose.
“I think at the end of the day, I don’t know if there’s ever a way you can prevent (injury),” he said. “Some pitchers get hurt. That’s just the way it is. It’s been going on forever. I think you just accept the fact that it’s possible to happen.”
No one wants to whisper those words in the case of Tarik Skubal, who had Tommy John surgery in college and had a flexor tendon surgery in 2022. During that flexor tendon surgery, Skubal has said, Dr. Neal ElAttrache looked at his elbow and determined the UCL was in pristine condition. That was three years ago. Skubal has been durable ever since. But when you see him throwing 102.6 mph in the ninth inning … who’s to say what that means? It’s another thing everyone thinks but no one wants to utter aloud.
The truth is, pitchers and UCL tears go hand in hand. Pending some sweeping rule change, that might not reverse anytime soon. This is no longer a trend. It is a fact. It happened to Skubal and Casey Mize, to Alex Faedo and Joey Wentz and Sawyer Gipson-Long, to pitchers young and old all across baseball.
Jobe now joins the club. Awful for him, even if it’s halfway expected.
“Obviously it’s never news you want to receive and it’s obviously really disappointing for him,” Greenberg said. “But he’s in great hands. He’s a determined individual. We’ve seen this before. We know what that process will look like, and very confident he’s going to come back and be a really important contributor for this team for a long time.”
(Top photo: Monica Bradburn / MLB Photos via Getty Images)
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