Analysis of Non-Game Injuries in Major League Baseball

Abstract

Background:Numerous studies have investigated injuries and treatments in the baseball athlete. The majority of these studies have focused on the throwing shoulder and elbow. However, more recent literature is reporting injuries to other regions in this cohort, including the knee, head, hip, and hamstring.Purpose/Hypothesis:The purpose of the current study was to determine the number and type of injuries in Major League Baseball (MLB) and Minor League Baseball (MiLB) players that do not occur during the actual game but are related to baseball participation. Our hypothesis was that there would be a substantial number of injuries that occurred in professional baseball players during non-game situations.Study Design:Descriptive epidemiological study.Methods:Deidentified, anonymous data were collected from the 2011 through 2016 seasons from the MLB Health and Injury Tracking System (HITS) medical record database. All injuries that were identified as a primary diagnosis and resulted in at least 1 day out of play from both MLB and MiLB were examined. Injuries were categorized as occurring during the game (“game” injuries) or not during the game. A “non-game” injury was defined as occurring at any time other than during the scheduled game from the first to last pitch.Results:There were 51,548 total injuries in MLB and MiLB players from 2011 to 2016, almost 40% of which were attributed to non–game-related injuries (n = 19,201; 37.2%). The remainder occurred during a game (n = 32,347; 62.8%). A significantly greater percentage of non-game injuries were season ending (10.8%) compared with the percentage of game-related season-ending injuries (8.4%) (P < .0001). Pitchers had significantly more non–game-related injuries than game-related injuries (P < .0001).Conclusion:A large number of injuries occur in professional baseball outside of actual games. MiLB players, specifically pitchers, are particularly at risk for these types of injuries. It is feasible that the overall injury rate in professional baseball players could be reduced by analyzing these injuries in more detail to develop prevention strategies.

Analysis of Injuries and Pitching Performance Between Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball: A 2-Team Comparison Between 2015 to 2019

“…A higher percentage of throwing injuries relative to the total in the current study suggests that MLB teams should closely examine their practice plans and appropriately prescribe workload schedules in preparation for games, as practices tend to show a higher injury risk in other research. 4 Running-based training is another TABLE 5 Frequency of the 10 Most Common Diagnoses practice event that poses a risk to athletes. Greater running volumes were prescribed for the NPB team and were likely related to the higher percentages of general overuse injuries and conditioning-based injuries in Japanese players comparatively.…”

The major aspects determining the most prevalent injuries in baseball: A review

“…Baseball players are particularly vulnerable to chronic overuse injuries as well as acute injury [5] . When compared to basketball and hockey, professional baseball and football have a greater number of epidemiological research [1] . The players in Baseball have the highest proportion of athletes in high school who require surgery, with the vast majority of these injuries impacting the elbow and shoulder caused by excessive use from throwing [6] .…”

“…For the sake of convenience, baseball injuries may be split into numerous distinct types. Therefore, can be divided as player position, game vs. non-game injuries, overuse vs. nonoveruse injuries, injury location and training season [1,2,3] . Pitcher and catcher are the most specific and injurious fielding player positions except other fielding positions [2] .…”

The Most Common Type, Severity, and Expected Frequency of Injuries Vary by Defensive Position in Professional Baseball Players

“…The American Journal of Sports Medicine 2022;50 (9):2534-2541 DOI: 10.1177/03635465221104490 Ó 2022 The Author (s) additionally been evaluated between in-game and nongame injuries in professional baseball athletes. 14 Summative reports on overall injury prevalence in professional baseball players have been published. 6,10,25 However, little is known about the unique injury profile for each defensive position in baseball.…”

“…17 The setting and context of injuries have additionally been evaluated between in-game and nongame injuries in professional baseball athletes. 14…”