Baseball catchers have one of the toughest jobs in professional sports. The only worst job is being a hockey goalie. The best illustration of this is J.R. Towles of the Houston Astros. He ended up with chin stitches due to a pitch bouncing off the ground and slamming into his chin.
Yep, a freak injury.
What are the most common catcher injuries in baseball?
1) Knee injuries: Due to the constant squatting position on the knees, catchers are more susceptible to prevalent knee injuries such as torn cartilage, strains or sprains.
2) Shoulder inflammation: On almost every play, catchers have to throw the ball to the pitcher from a squat position putting more pressure on their shoulder cavities. This constant pressure leads to inflammation among the ligaments and muscles.
3) Foot bruises: Also called foot contusions, these are bruises on the foot. You might think these happen most when a hit ball lands on top of the foot, but you would be wrong. Most of the time it happens when someone lands on the foot while running.
4) Sprained elbows: Due to the number of times a catcher must return the ball during the season, the elbow sees a ton of use. If not properly trained, the arm will put additional pressure on the elbow joint leading to a sprain.
5) Concussions: It doesn’t happen often, but when it does it is spectacular. It being the collision between a catcher and base runner. This is what causes 90% of all concussions suffered by catchers.
Again, catchers are fabulous athletes, but they run the risk of injury every single play.