Cleveland Guardians right-hander Shane Bieber refused to ride the current of criticism pointing to the pitch clock as the reason for an increase in season-ending arm injuries.
Bieber, one of several prominent power pitchers injured in the first two weeks of the 2024 MLB season, decided to have Tommy John surgery following two dominant starts, with 20 strikeouts in 12 scoreless innings. He's also in the final year of his contract in Cleveland, which brought a storm of emotion when he was asked about the contributing factors on Monday.
"I'm not ready to say that that's the reason that it happened," Bieber said of whether the pitch clock helped cause his injury.
"From a conditioning and cardiovascular standpoint, that hasn't affected pictures, I don't think. So it's hard to say what's going on in the inner workings of the elbow and the arm."
Braves ace Spencer Strider has UCL damage in his right elbow and is scheduled for more testing after the initial results brought red flags.
"It wasn't good," manager Brian Snitker confirmed Sunday.
Bieber, Miami's Eury Pérez and Oakland's Trevor Gott are among the hard-throwers facing uncertain futures because of arm injuries.
MLBPA executive director Tony Clark directly blamed the advent of the pitch clock last season for the increase in elbow issues for pitchers.
"Despite unanimous player opposition and significant concerns regarding health and safety, the Commissioner's Office reduced the length of the pitch clock last December just one season removed from imposing the most significant rule change in decades," Clark said in a statement. Since then, our concerns about the health impacts of reduced recovery time have only intensified. The league's unwillingness thus far to acknowledge or study the effects of these profound change is an unprecedented threat to our game and its most valuable asset -- the players."
MLB fired back quickly, claiming "empirical evidence" and historical trends are entirely ignored in Clark's assertion.
The 28-year-old Bieber had been offered a long-term deal by the Guardians but was making a bet on himself entering his free agency season.
"It's unfortunate the timing of everything," Bieber said. "As athletes, you can't control some of these things. So we do what we can. We stay positive. I've got an amazing support system with my family, with my teammates, with everybody around here.
"I'm excited to keep my head down, move forward, and it's easy to keep things in perspective. Things could be a lot worse, I'll put it that way."
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