It was the fourth inning of a CIF playoff baseball showdown between Santa Ynez and Riverside Woodcrest Christian High School on May 26, and decorated Pirates ace Zachary Torra was on the mound.
Torra went into his windup, unleashed a slider, and … pop.
“I felt a sharp pain in my elbow,” Torra recalled. “Then it started tingling, and I just knew what had happened.”
Torra was pulled from the game immediately after the pitch, which wound up being the last of his high school career.
It wasn’t long before Torra’s suspicion was confirmed.
Torra had torn the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his throwing elbow. He needed UCL reconstruction surgery, or, as the procedure is commonly known in the baseball world, Tommy John surgery.
Named after the pitcher on whom the surgery was first performed 42 years ago, Tommy John surgery entails replacing the damaged UCL with a healthy tendon from another part of the body. The surgery requires more than a year of rehab. While many pitchers make a full recovery from it, others never return the same.
What exactly caused Torra’s injury?
“It’s hard to tell,” he said. “I can’t pinpoint one thing. I think it’s the accumulation of everything, pitching through my whole life.”
UCL injuries are relatively common in baseball players, especially pitchers, and traditionally among professionals. But UCL tears that require Tommy John surgery are becoming more and more prevalent at the youth level.
A 2015 study published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine found that of all Tommy John surgeries performed between 2007 and 2011, more than half (56.8 percent) were on athletes between 15 and 19 years old.
Furthermore, since 2007, Tommy John surgeries being performed on youth baseball players were increasing by a rate of 9.12 percent per year.
The explanation for those trends isn’t rocket science. The competitive youth baseball player today is pitching more innings, in more games, during more times of the year, than ever.
“The bigger picture is that guys are throwing year-round,” said Brian Tamooka, the head baseball coach at Righetti High School. “Fifteen years ago, guys would play a baseball season in the spring, but then would take a break and play other sports. Nowadays, you have kids playing in the offseason.”
For many, the end of a high school season merely signals the beginning of a Babe Ruth season, and after that, the start of “travel ball” leagues. The stress of the added workload takes a physical toll, ultimately leading to more UCL injuries at a younger age.
Youth baseball leagues have taken some steps to address the increased injury risk. The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), for example, had a rule that restricted pitchers to 10 innings per week maximum during the high school season.
But setting limits based on innings pitched is an imprecise measuring tool. Innings will always vary in the amount of pitches thrown, and the stress level of each inning also varies. Two pitchers who each throw 10 innings in a week often tally up different pitch totals and feel different levels of fatigue.
Presumably for that reason, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), the body that oversees high school athletics in the U.S., announced on July 11 that it will require every state to institute a specific pitch count restriction in time for the 2017 season.
In a press release, the NFHS called it an “acceptable and reasonable modification in order to emphasize the risk that occurs when pitchers overuse their throwing arm.”
The exact pitch limit is currently under discussion at the CIF level and will be announced in September, according to the CIF.
“We’ve needed this for a long time,” Torra said.
Torra said he would like to see the limit set at 80 pitches per week, which would allow pitchers between five and seven innings of action each week.
“Your arm needs a break,” he said.
No matter the pitch count, though, Torra said it’s difficult to account for the other factors that go into UCL injuries, which aren’t easily measured.
“It’s not only innings and pitches, but the high-stress pitches during big moments when runners are on base,” Torra said. “You might want to have a sharper break on your curveball, and that puts more pressure on your arm.”
Tamooka at Righetti said he supported the new rule, but emphasized that the issue of pitcher burnout isn’t constrained to high school baseball.
“I’m not sure that the three months they’re playing high school baseball are as important as all the innings they throw in the offseason,” he said.
Those other baseball leagues are also confronting pitcher safety. Santa Maria’s Little League has a set pitch count limit that pitchers can’t go over.
The Babe Ruth leagues have recommended pitch count limits that they provide to coaches via their website and a max innings rule of seven innings per week.
“I cut [the pitch count guide] out and paste it on my scorecard. But that’s all voluntary,” said John Hernandez, the president of the Lompoc Babe Ruth club and a youth baseball coach. “I suspect we’ll be going to a pitch count soon. It would definitely be a good thing, because I do see some coaches abusing [the innings rule].”
As for Torra, he will be forced to redshirt his freshman year at Santa Barbara City College while he rehabs from the Tommy John surgery.
“The rehab is going as smoothly as possible so far,” he said.
Torra advised young pitchers to be conservative with their arms. Though his injury came seemingly out of the blue while throwing a slider in that CIF game in May, many players feel pain in their elbows long before the UCL is torn. Precautionary action has to be taken to stop the damage from escalating to a point where surgery is needed.
“Around here, I’ve had at least five parents come up to me asking, ‘What can we do to protect the pitchers?’” Torra said. “I tell them, ‘Monitor their pitches.’ They’re playing year-round. Their arms need a rest.”
Contributor Peter Johnson can be reached at pjohnson@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Jul 21-28, 2016.
