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10 PLAY BALL BAY AREA NEWS GROUP recordrates,andarecentwaveof studies demonstrates a relation- ship between increased velocity and increased risk in Tommy John surgeries. There are apparently only so many Newton-meters of torque a human elbow can take. "We're seeing so many young kids coming up throwing 95-98. They throw as hard as they can for a full season,'' A's catcher Ste - phen Vogt said, "and they come back the next season and their arm is gone. "I think it's become the mental - ity of a lot of organizations: 'Well, let's just use this guy until he can't pitch anymore and next in line.' I'm not a big fan of that." Velocity has gone up or held steady in 14 of the past 15 seasons. In the bullpen, especially, it's Fromleft:Youcanfairlytracepitching history through the rapidly spinning seams of Walter Johnson (whose fastball "hissed with danger,'' Ty Cobb said) to Bob Feller to Bob Gibson to Nolan Ryan to Aroldis Chapman. THE LEAGUE as if everyone suddenly comes equipped with a Rich Gossage fastball. It's not just Goose anymore, it's geese: The top 20 relievers last year averaged 96.72 with their heaters, according to numbers collected from fan - graphs.com. Better training, more sophis- ticated throwing programs and advances in medicine have paved the way for this generation of young, hard throwers, but there's no way to strengthen an elbow ligament, leaving the UCL to bear the brunt of this unprecedented fastball force. Stan Conte, the former Giants and Dodgers trainer, last year was the first to report that while shoulder injuries are on the de - cline in major league baseball, the number of elbow injuries contin- ues to rise. The trend of mega-velocity has been described as baseball's Faus- tian bargain: Throwing hard will get you drafted and could make you a star — and then, almost certainly, it will destroy you. "Our bodies are not designed to withstand that kind of velocity,'' Vogt said. "If you can, you're a freak." ITWASN'TALWAYSTHISWAY. In its infancy, baseball deliber- ately tried to keep pitchers from throwing too hard. The hurler threw underhanded, stiff-wristed pitches that borrowed from crick - et's early days. In the first surviving rules of baseball, drafted in 1845, Article 9 states: "The ball must be pitched, not thrown for the bat." The goal ASSOCIATEDPRESS