Implications of Core and Hip Injuries on Major League Baseball Pitchers on the Disabled List

To investigate the frequency of core and hip injuries in Major League Baseball (MLB) pitchers and their impact on performance, workload, and pitch type.

Demographic, performance data, and injury data were acquired for 330 MLB pitchers with 454 injuries placed on the disabled list (DL) from 2014 to 2015 seasons. Core and hip/groin injuries were analyzed in which injury year data were compared with career data and against other injury groups.

Core injuries represented 14% of all injuries and hip/groin injuries represented 7%. Average days on the DL for core injuries were 47.0 (standard deviation 5.6) days and 37.7 (standard deviation 8.1) days for hip/groin injuries. Return from the DL the same season for core injuries was 78% and 73% for hip/groin injuries. Core injuries returned to the DL 46% of the time (73% for noncore injuries) and hip/groin returned 56% of the time (60% for nonhip/groin injuries). No changes in workload were noted except starters with core injuries pitched less innings/game (5.3 vs 4.9 innings/game, P = .031) and more pitches/game (85.5 vs 78.4 pitches, P = .026). Fastball velocity decreased in the core injury group the year of injury (91.6 vs 92.2 mph, P = .001). Core injuries had slightly fewer home runs/9 innings and fewer strikeouts/9 innings; hip/groin injuries had slightly more strikeouts/9 innings, with all other performance statistics no different between the groups including earned run average and wins above replacement.

Core and hip injuries in MLB pitchers result in similar time on the DL compared with other injuries. Pitching workload during the year of injury does not seem to have a significant impact on sustaining a core or hip injury. Although there is a high rate of return to play from the DL, there is a high rate of reinjury in these pitchers more often for other injuries.

Level III, retrospective comparative study.