New York Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte had to leave Sunday’s game against Tampa in the third inning because of a strained groin. He thus slightly beat the odds. Because his injury happened after the All-Star Game, which was last Tuesday. And a new study finds that more than three-quarters of injuries to major league pitchers during the course of a season occur before the all-star break.

The data on baseball injuries was presented the same day as Pettitte’s early departure at the annual meeting of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine in Providence, Rhode Island. [Matthew Posner et al., http://bit.ly/9Q4m7K, page 61] Which makes sense because that’s Red Sox country and most of the Sox seem to be on the disabled list.

The study looked at all players who were put on the disabled list from 2002 to 2008. Pitchers were 34 percent more likely than non-pitchers to suffer injuries. And pitchers accounted for almost two-thirds of all the time spent too hurt to play.

Most injuries to non-pitchers also happened before the all-star break. Although I wonder if that stat might reflect a greater unwillingness to disable list a player during the pennant drive. Oh, Pettitte’s out for at least a month—providing new data for further research.

—Steve Mirsky

[The above text is an exact transcript of this podcast]