MLBPA's Clark: Teams must change pitcher usage to reduce injuries

LOS ANGELES -- MLB Players Association executive director Tony Clark expressed concerns Friday about how pitchers are being used in today's game, putting the onus on teams to keep them healthy.

"The conversations that we've had with our players have suggested that unless or until you draw a line in the sand and force change, that the decision-makers on any one particular team are going to continue to make the decisions that they're making, which is have pitchers' -- starting and relievers -- max effort for the period of time that they can have them," Clark said on the field at Dodger Stadium before Game 1 of the World Series. "As soon as they seem to run out of gas, as the data suggests that they're going to, recycle them out and to burn out another pitcher."

With the reduced prominence of starting pitchers and the increase in pitching injuries, the issue is a concern for the league as well. Major League Baseball has been studying the issue all season and hopes to implement the results of its findings to help reduce the number of injuries.

Clark said he believes teams need to have a role in it as well.

"Players are doing what it is they are being told they should do," Clark said. "If players were told, as they were the first 150 years the league was in existence, that the value was a quality start and pitching six innings or pitching deep in the game ... then that's what players are going to do. Clubs are telling players that that's not the value proposition anymore, and thus players are doing what it is that's being requested of them."

More refined training habits have helped increase fastball velocity over the past decade, leading to higher strikeout totals and more injuries. Tommy John surgery has become more common for pitchers, with some having the procedure multiple times.

MLB has flirted with incentive-laden ways to address the issue, but Clark said he believes teams are going to do what it takes to win -- hence, urging maximum effort over efficiency.

"Developing starting pitching, having strong starting pitching -- that historically has been the value proposition for 150 years -- has been changed," he said. "So that's until the decision-makers determine that blowing out pitchers day in and day out as a result of how they're using them or what they're requiring of them is no longer the best way to treat their players, we'll see a change absent."

Clark expressed satisfaction that the Athletics stadium in Sacramento will have a grass field to reduce the risk of injury during the hot summer months.

Meanwhile, the MLBPA is in wait-and-see mode regarding the damage to Tropicana Field because of Hurricane Milton. If the Rays can't play there in 2025, Clark said he wants to make sure the team is in a safe environment at a spring or minor league facility.

"It starts with the playing surface and the safety of the ballpark itself," Clark said. "Ensuring that you can get the work done that you need to get done and that the surface is reflective, and the ballpark is reflective, of major league standards."

It has not been determined if Tropicana Field will be playable next season.