I think pitchers are getting injured due to youth baseball. Baseball used to be (depending on what part of the country you live in) an April to July, maybe August sport. Then it would be fall sports. Now baseball is year round, fall leagues, indoor winter training etc. Thus kids that show promise pitching are pitching year round never giving their arms a rest. Also pitch count limits do not get their arms used to throwing and building up strength. The cycle before this recent years of Tommy John surgery of pitching five or so months and then doing something else seemed to serve earlier generations of pitchers well.
Plus nobody long tosses anymore which builds up arm strength.
This is oversimplifying it, especially scapegoating organized youth baseball, as if it didn't exist in 1950. You know what didn't exist in 1950 (actually, prior to 1974)? Tommy John Surgery.
For one thing, baseball is not a game that can be picked up (and excelled at) as a high school teenager, if only for the specific skills needed, and if a coach is not encouraging their players (not just pitchers. ALL of them) to do long toss, they are subpar for their position. organized programs have limits for pitchers, in terms of offseason throwing programs and pitch counts during games/practice/scrimmages to protect young, developing arms.
40 years ago, the game was amazed by Roger Clemens who lived in the low 90s and could touch 96 or so on occasion. Most
pitchers players back then topped out in the mid 80s in order to not get hurt. The only difference between pitchers and position players was throwing with different spin more accurately. Now, pitchers are specialized and can't sniff a major league diamond without the promise of hitting triple digits. At the same time, the harder one throws the more recovery time one needs. Even if only a few seconds between pitches, the game slows down.
Greg Maddox, Jamie Moyer, nor Mark Buehrle could reach 90 mph in a car, but they all won over 210 games, for which average elapsed time of game were well under three hours.
The biggest difference between then and now is that TJ is no longer experimental to only make a salary just north of selling washing machines on commission at Sears. Now it's a backstop for $5 million long relievers.
But sure. Youth baseball is the problem.
Edit: I'd also look at factors external to baseball. For instance, how often are kids on mobile devices, rather than playing catch outside of organized team events?
My guess is they aren't throwing enough.
