LOS ANGELES – MLBPA executive director Tony Clark expressed concerns Friday about the way pitchers are being used in today’s game, putting the onus on teams to keep them healthy.

“The conversations we’ve had with our players have shown that unless or until you draw a line in the sand and force change, the decision makers on any given team will continue to make the decisions they need to.” meaning that the pitchers – starters and relievers – have to give maximum effort during the period that they can have it,” Clark said on the field at Dodger Stadium before Game 1 of the World Series.

“Once they appear to be out of gas, as the data suggests, they recycle them and burn another jug.”

With the decreased exposure of starting pitchers and the increase in pitching injuries, this issue is also a concern for the league. MLB has been studying the issue all season and hopes to implement the results of its findings to help reduce injuries.

Clark says he believes teams have a role to play in that, too.

“Players do what they’re told to do,” Clark said. “If players were told, as they were for the first 150 years of the league, that the value was in getting a quality start and pitching six innings or deep into the game… then that’s what players are going to do. Clubs are Players tell them that this is no longer the value proposition, and that players therefore do what is asked of them.”

More refined training habits have helped increase fastball velocity over the past decade, leading to higher strikeout totals and more injuries. Tommy John surgery is becoming increasingly common among pitchers, with some undergoing the procedure multiple times. The league has even flirted with ways to address the issue, but Clark says he believes teams will do what it takes to win. That’s why he insists on maximum effort over efficiency.

“Developing starting pitching, having strong starting pitching — that’s historically been the value proposition for 150 years — has changed,” he said. “So until the decision makers determine that blowing out pitchers day in and day out as a result of the way they use them or what they demand of them is no longer the best way to treat their players, we will see a change absent.”

Clark also expressed his satisfaction that the A’s stadium in Sacramento will have a grass field to reduce the risk of injuries during the hot summer months.

In the meantime, the MLBPA is holding off on the damage to Tropicana Field from Hurricane Milton. If the Rays can’t play there in 2025, Clark says he wants to make sure the team is in a safe environment at a spring or minor league facility.

“It starts with the playing surface and the safety of the ballpark itself,” Clark said. “Making sure you can get the job done that you need to get done and that the surface is reflective, and reflects the ballpark, to Major League standards.”

It has not yet been determined if Tropicana Field will be playable next season.