08/23/2026
The answer is sad 😢.
Before the rise of Travel Baseball, teenage TJ surgeries accounted for no more than 20 per year.
Per year. --- 20. Per. Year.
This year they will hit 1700. 🤕
That's 57% of all TJ surgeries being performed on teenagers. FIFTY. SEVEN. PERCENT. ‼️
When teenage kids (and many times even younger) without even fully finishing puberty, are asked to play more games than a D1 NCAA athlete, throw more often than a MLB pitcher, and do so in a condensed weekend tournament schedule, with no breaks, and year round sub-par training - this is what you get.
Burned out kids heading to the hospital. 😭
No excuse is good enough.
No lie you've been told is small enough.
No trophy you win is shiny enough.
Thankfully TJ surgery has gotten to be much more efficient these days, and many that do the physical therapy right, do have a good chance of recovery.
And if you're one of the 1700 teenagers this year that have to endure this - we have your back. This is not the end of the road. With good doctors, a strong work ethic, and a love of the game, you can come back.
Stronger 💪.
But when you see the real truth as to why this is even happening to begin with, you'll understand why we put pitch and inning limits on our players, and why we only play a few games a week per team with rest day in between.
And why we're so staunchly against the poison that travel baseball has become.
Midwest Elite Gold Prospect Futures A Team (coached by the shortstops dad that played in HS 30 years ago) 🤮 🤮 🤮
11u USSSA Classic World Series Showcase (you drove 3 hours, paid the team fee and the gate fee, and took 2 days off work, and not a single scout showed up to the showcase... but hey, you got a $2 trophy) 🤮 🤮 🤮
Your 14u program charges $3,850 team fee + $1500 training fee + 20 hotel nights at $180 each + a $600 bat to fix a .205 batting avg. 🤮 🤮 🤮
This is a sickness. And it's hurting our kids.
But is there anything we can do about it?
At this point: maybe. 🧐
The lies about what matters are believed as truth.
The below avg coaching has become the norm.
The condensed weekend baseball schedule has become the parents social life.
If we're going to be better for our kids, for this sport, it starts with the parents making better decisions.
But it's up to us as baseball programs, coaches, trainers... To call out the BS, be honest about what we're doing, and help educate families.
Then, maybe after some time, and some real self reflection, we can all start playing...
For the Joy of the Game.
