Rob Dibble's Comments on Stephen Strasburg

In a Montreal Gazette article about Washington Nationals’ starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg, Rob Dibble reportedly said this:

“OK, you throw a pitch, it bothers your arm, and you immediately call out the manager and the trainer?” asked Dibble, a former big-league reliever

“Suck it up, kid. This is your profession. You chose to be a baseball player. You can’t have the cavalry come in and save your butt every time you feel a little stiff shoulder, sore elbow.”

(emphasis mine)

Rob’s comments are completely absurd and unprofessional. We should absolutely not encourage youth pitchers to go out there and throw despite pain or abnormal feelings in any part of the body – especially the pitching arm!

Oh, and for the record:

Dibble required surgery to his pitching arm in 1994, and missed the entire season as a result. Dibble signed with the Milwaukee Brewers and also played with the Chicago White Sox. He signed with the Chicago Cubs at the end of the 1995 season, but didn’t appear in a game. He signed with the Florida Marlins for the 1996 season, but missed the entire year due to injury, and retired soon after.

Retired because your arm was surgically repaired, Rob? Suck it up, kid. This is your profession.

Anyway, I’ll talk more about Strasburg’s injury when more concrete details are released about his MRI. To comment now would be premature, as not all the information has been released. I’ll say this, though: It’s very bad news.