The Dark Knight, Matt Harvey, had TJS as a Met.
So did Wheeler, Matz, DeGrom, and Syndergaard.
Even infielder TJ Rivera needed the hated procedure. It derailed him.
The Mets used 46 pitchers (including a few position guys) last year.
That will drop by 10 pitchers in 2026, I’d think, if Mets starters don’t again implode with injuries. If not, the pitcher revolving door will be in high gear again.
In 1969 and 1986, only 15 Mets pitchers were used each season. If you transported those entire staffs in a Time Machine to 2025 to face more power-laden hitters, that number of pitchers used by those two teams likely jumps by at least 10-15 pitchers. The difference?
It is the “velocity atrocity”. If everyone drives at 100 MPH, many more accidents will occur. In baseball, the quest for velocity is dangerous:
Simply…Lats get torn, elbows explode, shoulders disintegrate.
Pitchers routinely miss many months, and even years, recovering from such injuries. Some never make it back.
Speaking of Tommy John surgeries, many Mets pitchers in recent years have needed the procedure to be done on their elbows. So have the pitchers of almost every other team.
How about THESE numbers?
Percentage of MLB pitchers who have had Tommy John surgery:
2016: 27.4%
2017: 25.9%
2018: 28.5%
2019: 30.8%
2020: 32.0%
2021: 32.0%
2022: 34.4%
2023: 35.7%
2024: 38.9%
2025: 39.1%
39%? Wow. And what an upwards trajectory that is.
Oddly, according to Roegele, the two teams with the highest number of pitchers who had Tommy John surgery had 21 such carved up pitchers over the last 10 years.
The Mets, naturally, were third with 19, but the Cardinals somehow only had just four. That disparity sure is curious. If the team data is accurate from this gentleman, then David Stearns ought to look into the disparity. You know, see if the Cardinals are doing something right that the Mets are doing wrong.
Thoughts?
INTERNATIONAL PITCHERS…
WHY NOT TRY TO SIGN
CENTRAL AMERICAN PITCHING STUD TEENAGERS?
I saw this list of MLB international players in MLB. Go ahead and click it.
Excluding Cuba and Asia, which tend to be different animals involving asylum seekers and seasoned Asian stars, there are some international pitchers listed in it, some of whom are very good, but it seems that the vast majority of MLB pitchers (again, excluding Cuba and Asia) are continental U.S. born and bred, and come in through the annual draft process.
Why?
I think, offhand, it is for three reasons:
1) It is harder to evaluate the long-term trajectory of a 16-year-old pitcher hurling overseas at signing time than it is to project the long-term trajectory of an 18-21 year old pitcher that can be scouted right here by everyone in the states.
2) I think the way arms break down in this day and age, trying to extrapolate the long-term health of a 16-year-old kid is a lot harder than trying to do the same thing with an 18 to 21-year-old kid. I know that I would, as a team owner, want to expend funds on lower risk assets, which still have high rewards.
3) I surmise that baseball teams know there is a strong correlation between pitcher success, and pitcher body size. I think that overall, the average pitching prospect in the US has a significantly bigger projectable frame than the average pitching prospect from Central America. So it makes more sense to shop for future pitchers in a geographic market where guys tend to be larger than from another geographic market.
Each team only has so much international money to spend. And spending it on international pitchers seems to be a whole lot more risky than spending it on international bats for the aforementioned reasons.
Anyway, that’s my off-the cuff take. What’s yours?
Austin Powers I am sure would know exactly, given that he is an “international man of mystery.”
Oh, behave…Baby. Behave.
You “behave” by spending $ wisely.
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