Mr. Alex Cobb, along with Mr. Matt Moore, has ended an incredible run of good fortune for the Rays’ pitching staff with a strain of his oblique muscle.  In what may be remembered as the Year of the Tommy John, Mr. Cobb’s injury is painful but almost definitely not season ending.  The oblique muscles are used in any movement that involves twisting of one’s torso or abdominal compression (like bearing down or crunches).

 

Mr. Cobb is a right handed pitcher who has landed on the DL for a left sided oblique strain.  According to an oft quoted 2012 review of 20 years of professional athlete injuries, “Abdominal Muscle Strain Injury in Professional Baseball Players, 1991-2010,” pitchers who strain their oblique opposite their pitching arm miss on average 33 days.