The Relation Between Tommy John Surgery and MLB Pitchers' Country of Origin and the Implications on Human Capital
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2021
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Haverford College. Department of Economics
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Thesis
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eng
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Dark Archive until 2026-01-01, afterwards Haverford users only.
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Abstract
A trend of increasing Tommy John surgeries across all levels of baseball is cause for concern. Through probit and OLS regression analysis I analyze MLB pitchers and the likelihood of injury based on country of origin, as well as the effects of Tommy John surgeryon career length. I found that pitchers from Asia and South America are less likely to get the surgery than pitchers from other countries, and Tommy John surgery reduces career length by approximately a year and a half. This analysis also helps to highlight the issues of youth specialization and the need for robust prevention methods to reduce the likelihood of future injury in youth athletes. Tommy John surgery can have lasting implications on health, career earnings, as well as daily lifestyle.