Major League Baseball conducted a year-long study aimed at better understanding the increase in pitcher injuries around the sport and released its findings Tuesday.

ESPN's Jesse Rogers relayed some of the 62-page report's findings that were presented after interviewing a group of more than 200 people that included "former professional pitchers, orthopedic surgeons, athletic trainers, club officials, biomechanists, player agents, amateur baseball stakeholders, and other experts in pitcher development."

While the study concluded the constant push for better velocity and "stuff" through the use of maximum effort was linked to the injuries, it also cautioned this is just the first step in an ongoing process that needs more information.

Rogers noted the league is worried about pitchers overtraining during the offseason to improve their "stuff," which is defined as the "composite movement characteristics of pitches, including horizontal and vertical break and spin rate." It pointed to a spike in injuries during the spring and early season, suggesting pitchers aren't properly prepared for the start of new campaigns.

"More than anything, though, the study concluded that chasing velocity is the No.1 contributing factor to pitching injuries," Rogers wrote.

Despite these conclusions, there is prevailing thought that pitchers believe the rewards of better performance on the field and richer contracts that come from that outweigh the risks.

"We understand throwing harder increases your injury risk," a pitching coach said. "That's true at a population level. Now for the overwhelming majority of human beings on Earth who aspire to play baseball at a serious level, that trade-off is worth it."

According to the study, other factors contributing to the higher injury rates include workload management strategies with pitchers using max effort because they believe they will not pitch deep into games or throw too many innings over the course of a season, training focusing more on strength than cardiovascular, recovery rates from surgeries with modern medicine creating a false sense of security, and prior injury history for individuals.

The study aims to "increase the value of pitcher health and durability, and decrease the value of short-duration, max-effort pitching."

The timing of the study is noteworthy, as MLB implemented changes ahead of the 2023 season to improve pace of play.

Among those changes was the institution of a pitch clock that gave pitchers less time in between pitches to rest and move forward.

A number of pitchers and the Major League Baseball Players Association raised concerns about the pitch clock's impact on pitcher health.

Given that MLB was the one to implement the pitch clock, it would surely prefer to see conclusions suggesting it is not contributing to the rise of injuries. And Rogers noted the study was "somewhat inconclusive" when it comes to this topic, although he pointed out injuries have been increasing since the 1990s before the pitch clock was put in place.