MASH Report (5/22/15)

• Drew Smyly is going to rehab his shoulder instead of having surgery on it.

Smyly said the rehab process should take about eight weeks and believes he could pitch again for the Rays by late July or August, but added that there is a possibility surgery may be needed later if the rehab does not work.

I guess we will all know more in eight weeks.

• Jacoby Ellsbury’s knee is hurting and now he is on the DL. More information is to come out today once he visits the team doctor.

• Corey Dickerson’s plantar fasciitis (foot) finally forced him on the DL.

• Victor Martinez finally went on the DL because of his knee. The knee injury has bothered him since having offseason surgery on it.

• Wil Myers is on the DL for his bum wrist which he unsuccessfully tried to play trough.

• Jayson Werth hurt his wrist and will spend some time on the DL.

• Jarred Cosart is on the DL with vertigo caused by an ear infection. OK.

• Devon Travis is headed to the DL with an inflamed shoulder. From the information available, he can’t do anything right now. I am worried he may be out for a while.

• Drew Pomeranz is on the DL with a shoulder injury.

• Bud Norris went on the DL because he was sick.

• Phil Gosselin fractured his thumb and is on the DL.

• Looks like Edward Mujica will also be headed to the DL with a broken thumb (and he did go on it).

• Coco Crisp may also be DL bound

Coco Crisp says via Snapchat that he got "disheartening news' about his neck injury, but he did not provide details. #Athletics

— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) May 22, 2015

Julien Assouline looked into the relationship between velocity and Tommy John surgery and found higher velocity pitchers are more injury prone.

This can make pitcher selection now very interesting. For example, if you are trying to decipher whether to get a pitcher who throws 95 MPH who is just as good as a pitcher who throws 90 MPH, you might be better off taking the guy who throws 90. By doing that you would be reducing the odds that that pitcher has Tom-my John by about 7 to 10 percent, which is pretty good if you ask me.

Also, if you’re a GM or in fantasy and are terrified of relievers because you think they all tear their Ulnar Collateral Ligaments, well, you shouldn’t be. Your starters are actually slightly more likely to tear their UCL. There are of course other factors to consider here but these can serve as basic general guidelines. Finally, velocity does increase your likelihood of tearing your UCL, although with starters the data is a little murkier.

• At Sports Health, it was found that curveballs are not as bad as fastballs for shoulder health.

Despite much debate in the baseball community about the curveball’s safety in youth pitchers, limited biomechanical and most epidemiologic data do not indicate an increased risk of injury when compared with the fastball.

Velocity Readings

• Bruce Rondon was hitting 99 mph in a rehab start.

Rondon gave up a run on two hits in two-thirds of an inning in his first game action since suffering biceps tendinitis in the final week of Spring Training. His fastball generally sat at 97-98 mph on the stadium radar gun, including a 98-mph pitch he spotted for a called third strike for his first out before topping out at 99 on his final hitter.

• Masahiro Tanaka in the low 90’s in his minor league rehab start which is in line with his recent MLB velocities.

Masahiro Tanaka threw 41 pitches in 3 shut out innings in his first rehab start, he routinely hit 91 MPH #YankeesBaseBall

— NYYANKEENATION (@nyyankeenation) May 22, 2015

• Jaime Garcia’s average fastball velocity was fine.

• Tsuyoshi Wada’s velocity was also fine.

Players on the DL in 2015

The Red players have had updates since the last report. Click on the “Date” for a link to go to the latest article on the player.