The Cost of the Chase: How the Velocity Obsession Is Fueling an Epidemic of Arm Injuries in Youth Baseball

Arm injuries in baseball players are increasing year by year at an alarming rate, and The Washington Post is raising an alarm about it.

In an article written by Emmitt Siegel high school junior Sam Rosand is featured.

Rosand brushed off discomfort in his forearm, assuming it was nothing serious. After all, major pitching injuries usually come with a pop, a sharp pain — something dramatic. This wasn’t that. It was also Landon High’s final game of the 2024 season. Regardless of how his arm felt, Rosand’s spring was over after the inning.

He went through some routine postgame tests with the training staff. Nothing alarming. Just tightness — the kind you expect from a teenage pitcher with a 90-mph fastball.

But after a few weeks off, when Rosand stepped back on the mound, something was clearly wrong. His first pitch barely touched 73 mph. His elbow throbbed. He couldn’t even finish his bullpen session.

"My elbow was just screaming at me," Rosand said. "I knew something was wrong."

He consulted with doctors and got an MRI exam, which revealed multiple tears in his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL). He traveled to New York for a second opinion, where it was recommended he undergo a full reconstruction of his UCL -- a procedure better known as Tommy John surgery.

To read the entire report Click Here.