Casey Mize injury status (2nd Update 4/27/17)

[Gibson SG 88]

55 minutes ago, wareagle13 said:

I'm glad you were able to escape injury, and you're right Mechanics are probably the single most important determinant risk factor for ending up with a UCL tear needing Tommy John Surgery. Second only to year round baseball. The debate around more innings or less innings, more conditioning or more rest, can be traced back to the rise of sports specialization.

Any sport puts stress on your body. Stress is a good thing in the right doses. You need stress to challenge your body, strengthen it, harden it, and test it's limits. But the body also requires rest, long periods of rest necessary for growth. If you were 5'5" in the middle of a growth spurt and are supposed to grow 5 inches, and someone made you sleep in a box that was only 5'8" long, what do you think your maximum height would be? Closer to 5'8" than 5'10" for sure. Pitching, even with proper mechanics, puts a lot of torque stress on your elbow and shoulder. So basically you are putting micro-tears in your tendon every time you throw a ball hard enough (like strength training it's not inherently bad and used to develop strength). Putting those tears so young in your elbow causes the tendon to strengthen, but strength often makes it more difficult to stretch. So the tendon doesn't stretch and grow as long but the arm might continue to lengthen. So now you've got a longer arm, with a strong but shortened tendon that's getting year round abuse and can't compensate as well and can't rest as long.

That's my theory as to why we are seeing the rise in tommy john surgery in youth baseball.

tl;dr: increased sports specialization is creating insurmountable stress (even with the best mechanics) causing the elbow not to develop correctly leading to susceptible individuals for UCL tear.  

Well said.  I too think year round baseball is not a good thing.  Fall ball was non existent when I was a kid.  Now you finish the spring season, have a two week break and then jump into fall ball.  Crazy.  When I was in college, my coach would tell us not to pick up a ball after the season was over for at least two weeks.

You're absolutely right though, their arms never have a break if you are going from 1 season to another.

[PowerOfDixieland 3,225]

7 hours ago, steeleagle said:

I think CBT is protecting these pitchers because he knows and wants them to make it to MLB...and not make it because their college coach overworked them...He is protecting their future career and i appreciate that...

Bottom line.  

This guy is as good as it gets as a coach.  I'm not saying he's perfect, but he does EVERYTHING right.  If you've ever played for a guy like that you know these kids will give him everything they've got.  Just really like where this program is.  Now Butch just needs to coach 'em to two wins this weekend.

[boomstick 1,315]

According to the Montgomery Advertiser, Mize is throwing a rehab bullpen session Wednesday to see if he can go this weekend. 

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/sports/college/auburnauthority/2017/04/24/casey-mize-scheduled-rehab-bullpen-session-wednesday/100860094/

[ellitor 33,062]

Quote

 

AUBURN – A bullpen session on Wednesday will determine whether Auburn ace pitcher Casey Mize takes the baseball this weekend at Mississippi State.

Auburn’s baseball coaching staff confirmed Monday morning that Mize, the Southeastern Conference leader in strikeouts, will throw off a mound for the first time since April 14 at Tennessee in a bullpen session under the supervision of Auburn head coach Butch Thompson.

Thompson removed Mize (6-1, 1.23) would be removed from the active roster last weekend after the Auburn head coach expressed concerns at possible arm fatigue and soreness with the sophomore right-handed pitcher.

Butch Thompson pulled off a similar roster move nearly a month ago by resting then-Friday night ace starting pitcher Keegan Thompson for the weekend series against South Carolina. Keegan Thompson then threw a bullpen session in the middle of the following week before being placed back in the weekend rotation.

It is anticipated Mize would be slotted back into the Saturday role behind Keegan Thompson (5-1, 1.48) and before freshman Montgomery native Davis Daniel (3-2, 4.14) in its weekend starting rotation.

Even after missing his first start of the 2017 season, Mize still leads the SEC in strikeouts and it’s anticipated he’ll be given a start in one of the three games at No. 10 Mississippi State (28-14, 13-6 in SEC) this weekend in a battle between two teams at the top of the league standings.

Auburn (30-12, 12-6 in SEC) has won each of the two series without Mize and Thompson, who were both nominated for the 2017 Golden Spikes Award given to the nation’s best player. Mize and Keegan Thompson are the only SEC teammates who currently feature a below 2.00 ERA this season.

“It shows we’re a pretty good team,” Auburn senior reliever Andrew Mitchell said Sunday following the 11-6 win. “We took two of three without one of our best pitchers in both weekends and when you have all three, it shows how dangerous we can be.”

Butch Thompson has been public over the last month that he’ll continue to be hesitant to push any of his weekend rotation starting pitchers including (Keegan Thompson, Mize and Daniel) in order to have the trio at optimal level when NCAA Regional play begins in less than two months.

“I’m not so sure we’re not going to do the same with Davis Daniel in a couple of weeks,” Butch Thompson said. “He’s pitching the ball good. These three guys are imperative to us having the best possible team we can have and we’re aware of that.”

 

 

[PowerOfDixieland 3,225]

“I’m not so sure we’re not going to do the same with Davis Daniel in a couple of weeks,” Butch Thompson said. “He’s pitching the ball good. These three guys are imperative to us having the best possible team we can have and we’re aware of that.”

I really hope he does.  Brilliant on every level if you can pull it off.

[ellitor 33,062]

8 minutes ago, PowerOfDixieland said:

“I’m not so sure we’re not going to do the same with Davis Daniel in a couple of weeks,” Butch Thompson said. “He’s pitching the ball good. These three guys are imperative to us having the best possible team we can have and we’re aware of that.”

I really hope he does.  Brilliant on every level if you can pull it off.

Seems like Bama next weekend would be the perfect time to Rest Daniel for the stretch run if it's to be done.

[ellitor 33,062]

 

Quote

 

Decision near on Casey Mize's status for weekend series

AUBURN – Whether dominating sophomore right-hander Casey Mize will be ready for Auburn’s showdown at Mississippi State over the weekend is still uncertain. But it won’t be uncertain for long. Auburn coach Butch Thompson said Tuesday night he will make a decision by Thursday morning.

The No. 5 Tigers (30-12, 12-6), one game out of first place in the SEC West and overall races, go to Starkville to play a three-game series against first-place Mississippi State (29-14, 13-5) starting Friday.

Mize (6-1, 1.23 ERA) missed last weekend’s series against Arkansas because of soreness in his arm. He was to pitch in the bullpen today for the first time this week.

“Saturday he could still feel it a little bit,” Thompson said after Auburn’s 5-2 loss to Troy on Tuesday. “We threw Monday and again today. We got up to about 150 feet. Hopefully, we can have a good bullpen (Wednesday). He was excited about it. We’ll wait to see how he wakes up Thursday morning. We’ll make a call Thursday morning after he sleeps on that outing tomorrow.”

Thompson said Mize’s welfare will dictate the decision.

“I hope we get him back in there, but I don’ want to put the cart before the horse,” Thompson said. “We have one more hurdle to get over.”

If Mize is able to pitch, he will likely start the third game of the series. Junior Keegan Thompson (5-1, 1.48) will start Friday and freshman Davis Daniel (3-2, 4.14) will start Saturday as they did against Arkansas.

“I would say almost 100 percent, being a Wednesday bullpen, we would stay exactly the same,” Thompson said. “We threw Keegan’s bullpen to line him up for Friday. We will throw Davis’ bullpen also tomorrow to line him up for Saturday. We’ll TBA Sunday waiting for an answer from Casey.”

 

 

[ellitor 33,062]

 

Quote

 

Mize feels great after bullpen session

Bryan Matthews | Senior Editor

AUBURN | It won’t be official until late Saturday or Sunday morning, but all signs are pointing to Casey Mize returning to the starting rotation for No. 5 Auburn’s key weekend’s series at No. 8 Mississippi State.

Mize, who missed last weekend’s start due to forearm tightness, tested his arm with a 60-pitch bullpen from the mound Wednesday.

“I met with our trainer Sean Striker (Thursday) morning and (Mize) felt great so it’s an unbelievable report,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. “We’ll treat three times today, we’ll come back and throw tomorrow. I think he’ll throw aggressively to check in one more time.”

 

Mize has developed into one of the SEC's best starting pitchers.

Kenny Moss/Auburn athletics

Thompson will go with the same starting rotation as last weekend: Keegan Thompson Friday, Davis Daniel Saturday and TBA Sunday. But he’s penciling in Mize for Sunday’s game that’s scheduled to be on T.V. and has rain in the forecast.

“We’ll go this route to make it a coaches’ decision and put the responsibility on the coach instead of the player,” Butch Thompson said. “We potentially may have weather shortening a day so with all these things bouncing through my head and our staff’s head, we’ll go TBA for game three but I would anticipate on a normal weekend, Casey would draw that start and want that start.”

Mize’s potential return couldn’t come at a better time as the Tigers, 30-13 overall and 12-6 in the conference, face a Bulldog team that is one game ahead of them in first place in the SEC.

Mize is 6-1 on the season with a 1.23 ERA, and leads the SEC with 82 strikeouts.

“We all know what he brings to the table. He’s going to give you his all and usually give you a good start,” shortstop Luke Jarvis said. “It’s definitely big for us, especially going into a huge away series."

Game times at Dudy Noble Field are 6:30 p.m. CT Friday, 7 p.m. Saturday and noon Sunday. Friday’s game is on SECN+ and WatchESPN while Saturday and Sunday’s are on the SEC Network.

 

 

[AU64 10,122]

Interesting today I noted two top MLB pitchers being sidelined for tired or dead arm problems....right here at the beginning of the season. Looks more common that I realized. 

[ellitor 33,062]

7 minutes ago, AU64 said:

Interesting today I noted two top MLB pitchers being sidelined for tired or dead arm problems....right here at the beginning of the season. Looks more common that I realized. 

Yup & BMatt documented on Rivals the most SEC staffs have not had their top 3 starters go every weekend so far this year.

[boomstick 1,315]

I wonder if they're going to consider moving Sunday's game to Saturday and play a double header and how that might affect Mize's availability if it does happen. There's a 100% chance of rain on Sunday, mostly thunderstorms projected throughout the day.

[AU64 10,122]

8 minutes ago, boomstick said:

I wonder if they're going to consider moving Sunday's game to Saturday and play a double header and how that might affect Mize's availability if it does happen. There's a 100% chance of rain on Sunday, mostly thunderstorms projected throughout the day.

.......better off taking the rain  out?

[boomstick 1,315]

10 minutes ago, AU64 said:

.......better off taking the rain  out?

IMO, never. Even if it means not pitching Mize, I'd rather play the double header. Same as last weekend against Arkansas. We have enough talent to win this series if Mize doesn't pitch. We're in a really good position if he does. I'd want to play it if I'm down 0-2, up 2-0, or tied 1-1. 

[ellitor 33,062]

23 minutes ago, boomstick said:

I wonder if they're going to consider moving Sunday's game to Saturday and play a double header and how that might affect Mize's availability if it does happen. There's a 100% chance of rain on Sunday, mostly thunderstorms projected throughout the day.

Butch covered that in the above interview.

[ellitor 33,062]

16 minutes ago, AU64 said:

.......better off taking the rain  out?

"Taking" a rain out is not an option. The SEC wants every effort made to get complete SEC series in. If the forecast through tomorrow is still high for rain on Sunday then a DH Saturday is very likely.

[boomstick 1,315]

3 minutes ago, ellitor said:

Butch covered that in the above interview.

Not really clear, but it makes me think he may not go with Casey if there is a double header Saturday. Maybe I'm reading too much into the "on a normal weekend" portion.

[ellitor 33,062]

13 minutes ago, boomstick said:

Not really clear, but it makes me think he may not go with Casey if there is a double header Saturday. Maybe I'm reading too much into the "on a normal weekend" portion.

Based on those comments it's clearly hinted that's a possibility plus Phillip had a free article on AU 247 that had more Clint comments that more strongly hinted  the possibility Casey may not start a Saturday DH game.

[AU64 10,122]

19 minutes ago, boomstick said:

IMO, never. Even if it means not pitching Mize, I'd rather play the double header. Same as last weekend against Arkansas. We have enough talent to win this series if Mize doesn't pitch. We're in a really good position if he does. I'd want to play it if I'm down 0-2, up 2-0, or tied 1-1. 

That was mostly a joke but if we play 2 on Saturday the pretty well guarantees a beautiful sunny day on Sunday...

[ellitor 33,062]

Forgot to post Butch's video interview from this morning...

[boomstick 1,315]

7 minutes ago, ellitor said:

Based on those comments it's clearly hinted plus Phillip had a free article on AU 247 that had more Clint comments that more strongly hinted Casey would not start a Saturday DH game.

Just saw the article from PM you referenced. I'm a little confused as to why we'd make him available out of the pen but wouldn't let him start. But I'll freely admit I've been thoroughly impressed with how Butch has handled the pitching staff, and I'm certainly not going to question him now.

[ellitor 33,062]

2 minutes ago, boomstick said:

Just saw the article from PM you referenced. I'm a little confused as to why we'd make him available out of the pen but wouldn't let him start. But I'll freely admit I've been thoroughly impressed with how Butch has handled the pitching staff, and I'm certainly not going to question him now.

Well to say our bullpen is Jeckle & Hyde would be an understatement. I could see Butch go to Casey in the 7th or later if AU has a lead late in game 2 of the series which would be the 1st Saturday game whether we win Friday or not. If we win Friday he could want to go ahead and win the series in game 2. If we lose Friday he could use him to go ahead and avoid the sweep.

[mustache eagle 2,388]

Won't they do a DH with 2 seven inning games from time to time?

i would think that would favor us.  Starting pitchers and our bats seem more solid in the first 5 innings.

[ellitor 33,062]

40 minutes ago, mustache eagle said:

Won't they do a DH with 2 seven inning games from time to time?

Only if the DH day has more rain expected also. There is a 20% chance for Saturday in Starkville as of now. My guess right now would be 2 9 inning games.

40 minutes ago, mustache eagle said:

our bats seem more solid in the first 5 innings.

Correct. We have scored 192 of our 270 runs (71%) in the 1st 5 innings with the 5th inning being the most at 53 runs.

[PowerOfDixieland 3,225]

2 hours ago, ellitor said:

Yup & BMatt documented on Rivals the most SEC staffs have not had their top 3 starters go every weekend so far this year.

That will be the case for South Carolina going forward.  Clarke Schmidt blew out his elbow, will undergo Tommy John and is done for the year.  He was having a very good year with a 1.32 ERA in 9 starts.  He was every bit a first rounder against us going 8 innings, gave up 5 hits and struck out 10 in a USC 8-0 shellacking.  Arkansas lost weekend starter Keaton McKinney to a torn UCL before the season started and two more (Campbell & Scroggins) on the same day less than a month into the season.  It isn't a matter of "if".

[augolf1716 21,096]

15 minutes ago, PowerOfDixieland said:

That will be the case for South Carolina going forward.  Clarke Schmidt blew out his elbow, will undergo Tommy John and is done for the year.  He was having a very good year with a 1.32 ERA in 9 starts.  He was every bit a first rounder against us going 8 innings, gave up 5 hits and struck out 10 in a USC 8-0 shellacking.  Arkansas lost weekend starter Keaton McKinney to a torn UCL before the season started and two more (Campbell & Scroggins) on the same day less than a month into the season.  It isn't a matter of "if".

Damn that's awful for Schmidt