Off Topic
I note that my injury data for 2042 only goes through July. It won’t matter for this particular feature, because I’m only looking at injuries in April, but it will become important if I go further.
But let’s start wherever. Since we’re in April, I decided to look at all pitcher injuries that happened in April of each year, then split them by team. I should note that this data is ALL injuries, be they bumps and bruises or be they Tommy John or rotator cuffs or whatnot. I note, too, that April injuries are perhaps interesting in that they can disrupt teams seasons more completely than an injury in September—which can certainly kill post season hopes, but which at least leave the player contributing for most of the year.
Anyway, here’s the raw BBA data:
| Team | 2037 | 2038 | 2039 | 2040 | 2041 | 2042 | 2043 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charm City Jimmies | 7 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 24 |
| Long Beach Surfers | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 17 | |
| Boise Spuds | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 15 | |
| Brooklyn Robins | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 15 | |
| Madison Wolves | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 15 | ||
| Edmonton Jackrabbits | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 14 | |
| San Fernando Bears | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 14 | |
| Las Vegas Hustlers | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 13 |
| Louisville Sluggers | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 13 | |
| Omaha Cyclones | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 13 | |
| Phoenix Talons | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 13 |
| Calgary Pioneers | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 12 | |
| Nashville Bluebirds | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 12 | ||
| Hawaii Tropics | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 11 | |||
| Jacksonville Hurricanes | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 11 | |
| Mexico City Aztecs | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 11 | ||
| Atlantic City Gamblers | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 10 | |
| Wichita Aviators | 5 | 2 | 3 | 10 | ||||
| Vancouver Mounties | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 9 | |||
| Des Moines Kernels | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||
| New Orleans Crawdads | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | |
| Yellow Springs Nine | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 8 | |||
| Chicago Black Sox | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | ||||
| Huntsville Phantoms | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||||
| Montreal Blazers | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | ||||
| Portland Lumberjacks | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 | |||
| Sacramento Mad Popes | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||||
| Charlotte Cougars | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||||
| San Antonio Outlaws | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||||
| Seattle Storm | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | ||||
| Twin Cities River Monsters | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||||
| Valencia Stars | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |||
| Rockville Pikemen | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||
| Total | 79 | 41 | 41 | 36 | 43 | 45 | 43 | 328 |
So, yeah. This is really interesting.
First, I take a scan at the bottom/summary row and see that the overall occurrence of injury in April has not varied much since 2038, but that 2038 represents a major drop in injury occurrence. This, of course, is when the league (Matt) decided to drop injury levels a notch.
The next thing I naturally look at is the ranked order, and the difference in the number of injuries overall. Wow. Rockville has had only two April injuries to pitchers in all these seven seasons, whereas Charm City has had, wait for it, twenty-four. Yikes. I don’t know what’s going on in Charm City, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see me spend some time on them in another feature coming soon.
Of course, that 2037 is kind of getting in the way now, isn’t it?
Let’s take a fresh shot of injuries that have occurred only since we made the settings change in 2038.
| Team | 2038 | 2039 | 2040 | 2041 | 2042 | 2043 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charm City Jimmies | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 17 |
| Long Beach Surfers | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 14 | |
| San Fernando Bears | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 13 | |
| Boise Spuds | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 12 | |
| Brooklyn Robins | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 12 | |
| Calgary Pioneers | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 12 |
| Omaha Cyclones | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 11 | |
| Las Vegas Hustlers | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 10 |
| Louisville Sluggers | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 10 | |
| Jacksonville Hurricanes | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 10 | |
| Mexico City Aztecs | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 10 | ||
| Edmonton Jackrabbits | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 9 | |
| Phoenix Talons | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
| Vancouver Mounties | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 9 | ||
| Madison Wolves | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 8 | ||
| Nashville Bluebirds | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 8 | ||
| Atlantic City Gamblers | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 8 | |
| New Orleans Crawdads | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | |
| Yellow Springs Nine | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 | |||
| Chicago Black Sox | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | |||
| Des Moines Kernels | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| Portland Lumberjacks | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| Hawaii Tropics | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 | |||
| Wichita Aviators | 2 | 3 | 5 | ||||
| Charlotte Cougars | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |||
| Valencia Stars | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| Montreal Blazers | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||||
| Seattle Storm | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||||
| Twin Cities River Monsters | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
| Huntsville Phantoms | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| Sacramento Mad Popes | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| San Antonio Outlaws | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| Rockville Pikemen | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Total | 41 | 41 | 36 | 43 | 45 | 43 | 249 |
Still not great news for Charm City, but it’s a little better.
Across the league teams are averaging just over 1.1 pitcher injury per April. Charm City is averaging almost three. Rockville has had only a single injury. San Antonio has not been bit in April for some time—which shows the flaws of this simple 1-month cut to a reasonable degree. This is a comprehensive look across the league rather and a surgical cut on impact.
Historically we see Long Beach has had April problems, and San Fernando, usually fairly lucky with pitchers in April, had a terrible 2042. Boise has drawn a tough lot this year, relative to others.
Anyway…you can see, I think, there are hundreds of questions you could ask, and I expect I’ll ask a bunch of them as I go forward with what I expect now will be a series.
Things I’m pondering include, but are not limited to:
- How do UCL/Labrum/Rotator Cuff Injuries happening?
- Which pitchers get hurt, and when (starters vs. relievers)
- Can I follow individual pitchers?
- Do pitch types matter? Arm slots? (* Can I even get this data)
- Do day-to-day injuries point to bigger injuries in the future?
, things are getting ready to be nerdy.
