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I wanted to call your attention to this great post from Brew Crew Ball, SB Nation's Milwaukee Brewers blog. In it they compare MLB franchises in number of Tommy John surgeries their players have had to undergo since 2005. The Brewers, including their minor leaguers, have had 12 players have Tommy John (second lowest in baseball and just 2 of their major leaguers have needed it).
The Jays, surprisingly, aren't at the bottom of the list. They've had 21 players (20 pitchers + A.J. Jimenez) go under the knife, for that procedure, 6 of them major league pitchers. The team that is putting the most money into Dr. Andrew's pocket is the Dodgers, with 30 players elbows being put back together, 14 of them major leaguers.
Why don't I just steal their table (their lawyers are our lawyers, suing us would be just too confusing).
Team | Pitcher Tommy Johns since '05 | # of those from Major League Players |
Giants | 11 | 3 |
Brewers | 12 | 2 |
Mariners | 12 | 6 |
Astros | 13 | 7 |
White Sox | 13 | 4 |
Nationals | 14 | 6 |
Indians | 14 | 6 |
Rays | 14 | 3 |
Rockies | 15 | 5 |
Cubs | 16 | 3 |
Marlins | 16 | 8 |
Orioles | 16 | 5 |
Cardinals | 17 | 7 |
Diamondbacks | 17 | 7 |
Yankees | 17 | 4 |
Angels | 18 | 5 |
Royals | 18 | 9 |
Reds | 19 | 7 |
Phillies | 19 | 7 |
Tigers | 19 | 5 |
Pirates | 20 | 4 |
Padres | 20 | 7 |
Jays | 21 | 6 |
Twins | 22 | 5 |
Red Sox | 22 | 7 |
Athletics | 23 | 12 |
Mets | 24 | 12 |
Dodgers | 24 | 8 |
Rangers | 28 | 10 |
Braves | 30 | 14 |
Actually, the numbers come from Jon Roegele's spreadsheet of organizational Tommy John surgeries, if you want to see the spreadsheet, hit the link.
So it could be worse, but I would think that the Jays, and most other teams, should check into what the Brewers and Giants are doing, as far as what their trainers are doing with the pitchers.
There are 14 teams who have had more of their major league pitchers undergo Tommy John and 7 teams have had more players in their system need it.
I don't know what the teams at the top of the list are doing right, or if it is just random chance that causes some teams to need it done more often than others, if I was towards the bottom of the list, I would be looking at what the teams near the top are doing.