The media has been hounding Roger Clemens ever since the steroid scandal was unleashed by Jose Canseco. His book, “Juiced” shed light on the widespread abuse of steroids and other performance enhancing substances around Major League Baseball. Can you really blame the media for grilling Clemens relentlessly? He is the poster child of the most important franchise in major league baseball and a spokesperson against steroids. The worst part is that it seems like everyone knows Clemens was on something besides him. Never before has a major league pitcher peaked near the end of their career. So just how do performance enhancing substances help baseball players?

PEDs and Hitting
Many people around baseball like to make the argument that steroids didn’t help Barry Bonds make contact while batting so it wasn’t cheating. They are completely wrong and couldn’t be any further from the truth. First off, using steroids results in obvious muscle growth. Increased muscle naturally increases a hitter’s batspeed. When this happens a major league hitter can track the ball longer in the zone since his increased batspeed allows him to wait longer. Secondly, that same hitter can effectively own the inner half of the plate with increased batspeed. Of course his hand eye coordination hasn’t gotten any better, but everything else has. Flares turn into base-hits and warning track contact turns into homeruns – did I mention an increase in footspeed on the base paths. Performance enhancing drugs also allow baseball players to recover faster which is very important over a long season. The talent in baseball at the major league level is so tight that even the smallest of edges can make a huge difference.

PEDs and Pitching
We all probably know by now the harmful long term affects of performance enhancing drugs, but what about the positive short term effects for pitchers? Well for starters, pitchers will see an immediate jump in velocity and stamina over the course of a game and season. They will be able to carry an increased peak velocity deeper into games. Obviously, faster pitches are harder to hit and increased endurance means peak performance at later stages of a baseball game. Pitchers tend to give up most of their runs in late innings when their legs get tired. With performance enhancing drugs like HGH and steroids they can now peak in the later innings. This is a huge advantage since pitching depth can sometimes be limited.

The Overall Picture
Every level you move up in baseball obviously results in higher level talent. The entire minor league system is nothing but a large filtering process, seperating the talented players from the average and below average players. The gap between a superstar and an average player is not as big as you might think. A solid Triple AAA player and big league player have an even smaller gap. Players are constantly searching for that little edge to separate them from the next guy trying to take their spot. Banned substances gave most players that small edge they were looking for.

Widespread Use

Professional sports are obviously extremely competitive by nature. Players began turning to PEDs to seperate themselves from everyone else. When better performance resulted other players took notice and began using banned substances as well.  A “tipping point” resulted when players realized they had to take something just to keep up with the playing field. Players who normally wouldn’t touch banned substances found themselves involved because they had to.

The next few years of baseball will be interesting to watch. There has already been a noticeable decline in power numbers like homeruns and slugging percentage. I suspect batting average and most other offensive statistics will catch up soon. As we recently have seen, Manny Ramierez tested positive for an illegal substance – a female fertility drug human chorionic gonadotropin. He was taking it to jump start his natural production of testosterone.

“It could be that a player used it because he used steroids and went cold turkey and needed hCG to get his levels (testosterone) back to normal. I had to use it when I quit steroids cold turkey. I had to go to a doctor to get it and get my levels back.” – Jose Canseco

Are people trying to get more clever about masking agents , designer steroids and HGH? It sure would appear that way. The future of baseball’s drug problem remains unclear, although I suspect Manny is just the tip of the iceberg of players still using performance enhancing drugs. Players are turning to HGH and other drugs that can escape the drug testing radar.

Unfortunately, the players named in the Mitchel report have ruined the game and probably don’t belong in the Hall of Fame. It is completely unfair to the players of older generations with honest careers. Lastly, I have that much more respect for Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Pedro Martinez who had to pitch through some of the most difficult “juiced up” competition in the history of baseball.

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Opinions vary widely when the topic of icing after games comes up. Most amateur baseball players witness pitchers at the major league level icing after a game. Their thoughts go something like this, “if icing is done at the major league level that means all pitchers should ice after games.” Some people claim that icing aids in recovery, mainly because they see professional pitchers on television doing it. In reality icing might be detrimental to arm health, even for major league pitchers.

One major argument against icing is that it can shrink blood vessels with prolonged use. Cold temperatures restrict blood flow throughout the tiny blood vessels in your arm. This is obviously a problem since your arm depends on rapid blood flow to function optimally. Cold temperatures may also cause blood vessels to shrink with long term use. This is also negative since large blood vessels supply the arm with energy during the throwing motion.

Another argument against icing has to do with the body’s natural healing process. After ice is administered, blood flows rapidly to the spot of application – usually the shoulder or elbow. This process occurs until the ice overwhelms the heat in the blood causing flow to slow down. Eventually blood can no longer reach the area affected, which is a bad thing. This disrupts the body’s healing process and slows down natural recovery.

The main positive focus for proponents of icing is the reduction of inflammation in the arm. For people susceptible to tendonitis and other arm related problems icing may be positive. Just make sure to keep your icing time length reasonable (8-10 minutes). Pitchers in rehabilitation after arm surgery should also consider the use of ice to reduce inflammation at the point of injury.  Pitchers who have hurt their arms during a live game should obviously ice as well.

Much scientific research still needs to be conducted before the baseball world figures out exactly what level of positive or negative effects icing has on the arm. Until then the best option is likely to do absolutely nothing after your pitching appearance until the next day. Let the body’s natural healing process take over until the next morning. Then be prepared for some long distance jogging or exercise on an elliptical bike to get the blood flowing back into your arm. Elliptical exercise machines allow both your legs and arms to pump at the same time. This ensures blood is flowing in your arms as well as your legs.

Why Not Jog or Bike Right After the Game?

The pitching motion is naturally violent due to the forces applied to the arm when throwing a baseball. The throwing motion done repeatedly over the course of a baseball game fatigues muscles like the rotator cuff. Every time a pitcher throws a baseball tiny micro-tears result. This process is the same thing that occurs during weight lifting and other strength training, but the muscles susceptible to injury are much smaller. These muscles need a “cooling off” period to recharge before further physical activity should be done – so does the rest of your body. Although it will usually never hurt you to excercise right after the game, you should consider giving your body a short rest. The pitching motion is already taxing enough on the muscles involved in throwing.

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