2025 SABR Analytics: Watch highlights from Glenn Fleisig’s keynote talk on Tommy John surgery epidemic
At the SABR Analytics Conference on Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Phoenix, Arizona, Dr. Glenn Fleisig delivered the keynote talk on “The Tommy John Surgery Epidemic: Why So Many Injuries and What Can Be Done to Stop Them?”
Fleisig is the Research Director of the American Sports Medicine Institute and the Founding President of the American Baseball Biomechanics Society. He also serves as an advisor to Major League Baseball, Little League Baseball, and USA Baseball. After earning his engineering degree from MIT and interning at the US Olympic Training Center, Dr. Fleisig was hired in 1987 by renowned orthopaedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews to develop the American Sports Medicine Institute. Over a four-decade career, Dr. Fleisig has published more than 200 scientific articles on baseball biomechanics and other topics, delivered 400 presentations throughout the world, and has been interviewed for thousands of stories in the media.
Afterward, Fleisig was honored by SABR CEO Scott Bush as the recipient of the 2025 SABR Analytics Conference Lifetime Achievement Award.
- Watch: Click here to watch a video replay of Glenn Fleisig’s keynote talk (YouTube)
Here are some highlights from Fleisig’s talk:
On the origin of Tommy John surgery
- “Tommy was a lefty pitcher, a star pitcher for the Dodgers at this time [in 1974], and then he felt something funny in his elbow. He then went to see his team’s snappily dressed doctor, that’s Dr. Frank Jobe over here, and something was wrong with his elbow and Dr. Jobe talked to Tommy and he said — I’ve talked to the late Dr. Jobe about this — but basically Dr. Jobe said he’d thought about this because a different pitcher on the Dodgers a few years ago had his career end too briefly because of this kind of elbow injury. It was Sandy Koufax.”
On the causes of pitcher injuries
- “There was a consensus [in the 2024 MLB injury report]. Most of the people surveyed thought that chasing velocity and pitching at maximum effort (were) the number one causes. Other things identified in the report are chasing ‘stuff,’ like trying to get more spin and vertical break and horizontal break, a lot of the things that we talk about at this conference, and also amateur overuse. Professional baseball and amateur baseball are connected, and the kids who are playing year-round and getting drafted, they’re coming in with some damage already in their arm.”
On pitchers throwing as hard as they can
- “I’ve been trying to tell the teams and the pitchers that you are going to have a better career if you don’t throw every throw as hard as you can — that you have more durability, you’re not worth anything to anybody or yourself if you’re not pitching. And if we talk to the guys from 20 years ago, the All-Stars, they did not throw every throw as hard as they can. They didn’t have the radar gun in the stadium every time judging them.”
On scouting and the importance of velocity
- “A pitcher in high school or in the Dominican Republic or in college, they know that their ticket right now is the radar gun, not how many wins or strikeouts or whatever they have. If that’s what they’re being rewarded on, that’s what they’re doing. But if the major-league teams wake up and know that a guy with a little less velocity but good stuff might be more valuable, then the risks and rewards might change.”
On the stress placed on a pitcher’s elbow
- “What’s called a Valgus torque, you have like 100 Newton-meters. It’s a science term you might remember from high school physics, but it’s how much torque is going back. To try to translate what 100 Newton-meters is, 100 Newton-meters is the equivalent of holding 60 pounds in your hands. Imagine you’re in that position, someone is giving you like five 12-pound bowling balls to hold in this hand, imagine the stress on your elbow. That’s how much stress is on the elbow at that instant.”
Transcription assistance from Jack Barron.
For more coverage of the 2025 SABR Analytics Conference, visit SABR.org/analytics.
Originally published: May 1, 2025. Last Updated: April 1, 2025.