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Susac Was Lucky. I Hate Head First Sliding.

Looks like Andrew Susac was pretty lucky and avoided serious injury to his thumb yesterday after he jammed it sliding head first into third. We said the same thing about Joe Panik last year when he hurt his hand sliding head first into second shortly after arriving in the majors. Yaseil Puig, Billy Hamilton and Shin Soo Choo did miss some game time last year from injuries due to head first slides but were lucky the injuries ended up being relatively minor.

Bryce Harper, Josh Hamilton, Nolan Arenado and Dee Gordon weren't so lucky and all suffered more significant injuries with long stints on the DL over the last two seasons after getting hurt sliding head first.

After Bryce Harpers injury in April of 2014 SI compiled list of guys who suffered fairly significant injuries sliding head first over the last few seasons. A couple of these guys have been hurt more than once.

• Yunel Escobar: concussion, 2011

• Alex Gordon: broken thumb, 2010

• Rafael Furcal: broken thumb, 2011

• Josh Hamilton: broken humerus, 2011; torn ulnar colllateral (thumb) ligament, 2014

• Jason Heyward: bone bruise of thumb, 2010

• Ian Kinsler: stress fracture in rib cage, 2013

• Mike Napoli: dislocated ring finger, 2014

• Yasiel Puig: sprained thumb, 2014

• Andrelton Simmons: broken pinkie, 2012; sprained thumb, 2014

• Chase Utley: torn ligament in thumb, 2010

• Ryan Zimmerman: torn labrum, 2008; abdominal strain, 2011; broken thumb, 2014

http://www.si.com/mlb/strike-zone/2014/04/27/bryce-harper-thumb-injury-slide-headfirst

I've read a few articles that have made the argument going both ways as to whether you get to a base any faster sliding head first. While it can be debated whether you get there any faster or not the difference between how fast you get to a base with head or feet first slide is at best very, very minor. What can't be debated is that when you slide head first you open yourself up to the risk of finger, hand, arm, shoulder, and head injuries. I get why guys slide head first but the reward hardly seems worth the risk.

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