Bryan Woo and Mookie Betts Concerns

 

 

As a precaution, Bryan Woo skipped his last scheduled start. He was evaluated to have an MRI last week, as the test revealed negative for an injury. It would have been a tremendous blow to the Seattle Mariners' season if the test revealed an injury. His team starts their series against Steven Kwan's Cleveland Guardians later today. It is going to be pretty exciting to see Steven against Woo, as Steven is having a batting champion-type of season. 

 

When Bryan Woo pitches on Wednesday, he will probably be limited to a certain amount of pitches. I highly doubt he will go more than five innings. I am still very skeptical about this decision to have him pitch this early. If he was feeling any discomfort, it should be taken into account that there might be something else causing the pain. It is usually best to evaluate the arm further.

 

Boasting an ERA of 1.08 in his last 6 starts, Bryan Woo has to remain healthy for his team to make any serious run for the World Series, a title that has eluded the Mariners since its inception. The Mariners winning the World Series would be equivalent to winning the World Cup five-fold for the city of Seattle, whose team, which began playing in 1977, has never won a World Series.

 

My concerns:

 

I know this is out of place, but after seeing Mookie Betts of the Dodgers, a teammate of Shohei Ohtani going down after getting hit on the hand with a 98-mph fastball, I became concerned about the speed of the new wave of pitchers in MLB. It is getting very dangerous when more and more pitchers throw faster than ever. 

 

After observing the at-bat that injured Mookie Betts, I noticed that he was not wearing a hand guard. I hope that many more players while hitting at the plate would use a hand guard. Shohei Ohtani does, so I am glad that he does. The hand has many small bones and when something hits it going 98 mph, it would most likely cause damage. A hand guard, similar to what Shohei wears would lessen the damage, if not protect the hand completely from a serious injury.