Shortened spring training for pitchers a concern for Yankees

TAMPA, Fla. — Just before the start of the three-week spring training that preceded the COVID-19-shortened 60- game regular season in 2020, an American League executive predicted carnage across the sport.

"If you think the injury rate was high [in previous seasons]," the executive said, "wait until this year."

He was right. Injuries became an issue for all 30 teams pretty much from Day One of the truncated spring training, which began in early July. It continued unabated, especially for pitchers, for whom — and only for whom — the regular six-week spring training exists.

It is just as much of a worry in the game in 2022. Whenever MLB and the Players Association conclude their current game of chicken and reach a new collective bargaining agreement, a shortened spring training will follow, this one likely in the range of four weeks.

"I think that’s a huge concern," new Yankees assistant pitching coach Desi Druschel said earlier this week at the club’s minor-league complex. "It’s pretty easy to see what happened in [2020]. It’s easy [in general] to see what happens every year in spring training."

Studies have consistently shown that players — again, pitchers in particular — are most susceptible to injuries during spring training and in April, the season’s opening month.

"In the pitching world, that’s probably objective No. 1: making sure we’ve got our hand on the pulse there," Druschel said. "If we had injuries figured out, we wouldn’t be having this conversation to begin with. I don’t think anybody has that figured out yet, but I think we’re getting closer. People will have a close eye on it, there’s no doubt about it. It’s certainly a concern for everybody."

As a result of MLB’s lockout of players, club personnel are prohibited from contacting players on the 40-man roster to find out exactly where they are in their offseason workouts. But Sam Briend, the Yankees’ director of pitching, said every pitcher was given a fairly detailed throwing program before commissioner Rob Manfred instituted the lockout Dec. 2.

Ideally, starters should be built up to be able to throw in the neighborhood of 90 pitches after a typical spring training. Briend said that number will be in the 60-to-65 range if there’s a four-week spring training.

Asked if 28 days is long enough for pitchers to get ready, Briend said, "In an ideal world, no."

Yankees minor-leaguers not on the 40-man roster, meanwhile, have been going through what amounts to a regular spring training for them at the minor-league complex. Those pitchers, at the very least, will be stretched out and can provide their big-league brethren the ability to ease into their workloads after they report.

"You never know what causes an injury, right?" Briend said. "But from a lot of the research and the things we’ve seen in the past, the riskiest time of the year is always spring training and the first month of the season. It’s something like over 30% of surgery-inducing injuries happen in that window.

"I’d say it’s actually pretty scary. It’s nice to have at least four weeks, and hopefully there’s some roster flexibility with that to be able to make sure that we’re not putting these players at risk.

"The nice side is that we’ve got the minor-leaguers here and they’re able to get going so their workloads are built up as normal. We brought our guys [minor-league pitchers] in earlier to make sure their workloads are built up so we can kind of support that as guys [major-leaguers] might need an off day or be pushed or whatever they need on the major-league side."

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.