Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez blames teams for pitchers' elbow injuries: 'Perfect lethal combination'

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The list of pitchers with elbow injuries is rapidly growing, and we're seeing All-Stars fall into what is now becoming a baseball epidemic.

According to Spotrac, there are currently 43 starting pitchers (and 33 relievers) on the injured list with elbow or arm injuries. Among the starters, they have racked up a combined 30 All-Star nods and six Cy Young Awards.

It's nothing new over the last several years, but guys like defending Cy Young Award winner Gerrit Cole, Framber Valdez, Shane Bieber and Spencer Strider, four of the best pitchers of this generation of baseball, have all hit the shelf within the last month – the latter three within the last week alone.

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Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez is introduced during the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony at Clark Sports Center on September 8, 2021, in Cooperstown, New York. (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Pedro Martinez, for the bulk of his prime, was hardly injured. From 1995 to 2005, he appeared in 30-plus games eight times and 29 twice. Of course, he parlayed that into dominance, winning three Cy Young Awards in a four-year span (he finished second in 1998) and was an eight-time All-Star en route to Cooperstown.

It wasn't until the back-end of his career when injuries derailed him – he made just 34 starts in his final three years – but he can see how much the pitching philosophy has changed since he took the bump in the 1990s and 2000s.

"When we see so many up and coming MLB pitchers with fewer than 200 innings in the minors, lots of muscle mass, underworked baby ligaments and a team demanding max velo on everything they throw, we’re