An injury to the Ulnar Collateral Ligament was once considered career ending for baseball pitchers. In recent years, there’s been a rise of Tommy John surgeries in youth baseball players.

The amount of Major League pitchers who undergo Tommy John surgery doubled from 1990 to 2010. According to the American Journal of Sports Medicine, nearly 60 percent of these surgeries are made up of athletes between the ages of 15 and 19. Dr. Michael Maloney said some consider it an epidemic.

“There has been this push in youth sports for specialization, so you’re seeing younger athletes choosing to do one sport to specialize and if they choose baseball and they are throwing year round it’s more than their developing body can tolerate,” Dr. Michael Maloney, UR Director of Sports Medicine.

Rochester Red Wings pitcher John Curtiss blew out his elbow when he was 19. He said it’s more important for a 15 to 19 year old to play multiple positions and sports rather than solely focusing on pitching.

“It’s mostly overuse. I think it’s mostly pitching specialization at a young age. We’ve become so focused on pitch counts and I think we’re not taking into consideration how much playing baseball year round affects players,” said John Curtiss, Red Wings.

“There’s also a misperception that if they have Tommy John surgery that they’re going to come back and throw harder. I don’t know how that got perpetuated, but it’s out there and that’s not accurate,” added Maloney.

Tommy John is a 12 to 18 month recovery process. The leading factor of a UCL injury in young athletes is overusing the elbow without the recommended six to eight weeks of rest.

“It’s important to remember that the best player at age 16 is hardly ever the best player at age 26. I know a lot of kids and parents want their kids to get college scholarships, but you have to be mindful of the sacrifices you make and how much you throw and play when you’re an adolescent doesn’t necessarily correlate to major league success,” added Curtiss.

USA Baseball and Major League Baseball recognized the rise in arm injuries and came up with Pitch Smart to offer guidelines by age to keep young athletes healthy.