The BBA Medical consortium today released a report that shows baseball players across the universe are about as healthy as they were last year. With the level of investment inherent in baseball players, injuries are always a concern for everyone from fans to GMs to owners, the report read. With that the Commissioner’s Office has always taken a fevered approach as we have endeavored to keep our fingers on the pulse of the situation.
The league report tabulates injuries that have happened across the entire baseball universe, from lowly high schoolers on up to the UMEBA and BBA, and tracks injury occurrences that include day-to-day bumps and bruises and setbacks to original injuries as well as damage that sideline players to begin with.
When looked at overall, there were “only” 5,138 injury incidents this season (compared to 5,207 last year). That said, lost-time injuries were up a bit while day-to-day events saw a drop. In addition, the report notes that the drop in overall incidents was to be expected after the UMEBA contracted to eight teams, four fewer than the previous season.
There was some concern early in the season regarding lost time injuries due to batters being hit by pitches, and that did bear out to some degree, with six more hitters losing time after being beaned, and four additional suffering lingering aftereffects even if it didn’t sideline them. After the league office sent stern warnings to the league, however, the occurrences of such events seemed to drop to a more usual rate, and the final report notes that the overall increase was not so large as to draw many concerns.
While some laud this report as good news, and while (per the runner above) the report actually says that this data proves the players are “no more klutzy than they ever were,” others take the whole thing with a grain of salt—noting, for example, the occurrence of Baghdad’s Griff Tannen, who recently fell down some stairs and suffered a madcap collection of breaks and bruises that threaten to keep him questionable in spring training.
“It’s not like these guys are ballet dancers or anything,” said Bruiser Weekly reporter Gayle Combs.
