I wrote this article and I just spent way too much time reading this whole thread 
So, a lot to unpack here. Here we go.
About me: do I really look like that much of a weenie in my picture? Now you’re making me all insecure and thinking I’ll have to switch it out Regardless, yeah, I’m not that much of a scrawny internet writer. Not a powerlifter or elite bodybuilder by any means, sure. But I’m 6’2, 215ish lbs. 565 DL, 455 squat, 345 bench (did I just say my best lifts on the internet? Shoot me). I’m not “elite” by any means, but I’d say that’s respectable for someone who trains with general goals (muscle, athletic performance, feel-good). You can get a full view if you’re that into it by checking out some of my other articles with vids, but regardless, I’m not a total weasel here Either way, that’s one of my pet peeves with some of the massive dudes in the gym. I coach this one powerlifter who looks like Hercules himself, but he has no idea what he’s doing and he admits it, hah. Lot of big dudes out there who still don’t know all that much about training.
About the baseball situation: yeah, minor leaguers definitely play in games. They don’t sit on the sidelines like someone else said here It’s not like the NFL practice squad (although those guys make more than minor leaguers). Every player who’s drafted by a team - whether they’re a first rounder or 20th rounder - starts in the minor leagues for 2-3 years. I was drafted in 2016 and played that summer, and I actually did pretty well (I was the only first basemen selected to the All-Star team out of 14 teams and led the league in RBIs - yeah, I’m tooting my own horn here ). But I actually voluntarily retired, I didn’t get cut. Yes, I had a signing bonus and yes, I made money, which is the definition of a professional athlete, but I wanted to move on to the next stage in my life. If I wanted to stick it out and keep playing, I could have. Check my MiLB bio - under status it says “voluntarily retired.”
In regards to the article, a few general points:
-The tough part with articles like these (and this was no surprise to me, trust me) is that they’re for the masses. There are always exceptions to the “rule” here and N=1 cases. I’m speaking broadly in this article. Someone commented saying, “Tell that to Eddie Hall,” and I’m like dude, I get what you’re saying, but there aren’t many Eddie Halls out there. BUT, there are millions of gym bros out there doing high rep sets of conventional deads that give me a herniated disk just by watching. T3hPwnisher, I’m not sure if you coach athletes or train others, but if you do, you know that 95% of individuals are NOT like us. You can pull high-rep deads without a problem, I can do high-rep deads without a problem, and we can both obviously reap huge benefits from doing so without crushing ourselves. But that 95%? Absolutely no shot. I train a lot of elite athletes who can hardly pull one good deadlift off the ground no matter what I tell them, whether it’s due to anatomical disadvantages, weak links elsewhere, or whatever else the case might be. It’s easy to say go for it when we’re talking about ourselves or our lifting buddies, but that’s hardly ever the case. When you see regular dudes deadlifting in any public gym, I’m sure you understand. Are high-rep deadlifts inherently bad? Not at all. Are high-rep deadlifts bad for most people in the gym who can’t pull one clean rep off, let alone 10? For sure. Trap bar deadlifts are a lot safer bet for most individuals in that case. But again, high-rep deads AREN’T inherently bad.
-Going beyond that, EVERYTHING in the gym should be looked at from a risk vs. reward perspective. If you’re a strongman, you obviously have to pull high-rep deads. If you’re not, you have to ask - is this the best way to accomplish X goal (muscle, fat loss, strength, etc.) while absolutely minimizing my risk of injury - acute and/or chronic? If the risk-reward ratio is poor, then I tell people to proceed with caution. Especially as a coach of athletes who need to be healthy to perform first and foremost, my #1 job is to keep them healthy IN the gym, and my #2 job is to give them the best chance of staying healthy when they perform. If there’s a better way for me to build up their strength or work capacity or whatever we’re going for without as much risk, I’m obviously going to take that lower hanging fruit. If you were dealing with a $100 million football player, are you going to do anything that will put them at even 1% risk of getting hurt? You have to be especially careful with guys like that. The same thing translates to regular gym-goers. Again, I’m not talking about situations like yours. But if you get hurt while training, nothing else matters. Most people need to prioritize modalities that have maximize trainability while minimizing injury risk both short- and long-term. And, like I said, sure, you and I can do high-rep deads without a problem. That’s not my point. My point is that most people can’t, hence the article.
-Axial loading is definitely not a bad thing? Nor did I say it was? But there’s no denying that it’s a big CNS stressor. Combine that with bad form (which, again, will happen when most people scale up the reps) and things can get ugly pretty quickly. I don’t want to give advice that makes someone wind up on a couch eating cheetos and skipping out on work for a week. That’d mean I’m failing on my sole goal as a coach.
-There are a lot of great coaches who also bash high-rep deads for the general population. Again, and I’m sounding like a broken record, they’re saying that for people who are not like you. People who aren’t strongmen or people who are a heck of a lot weaker. You obviously have plenty of experience deadlifting, and if you’re saying that you’re a ton stronger than most dudes (which I’m agreeing with), you’re also saying that most dudes are not like you… Which is the population I’m talking to here. John Rusin, Mike Boyle, Tony Gentilcore, Eric Cressey, Jay Ferruggia (AKA, some of the most decorated strength coaches in our industry) aren’t fans of high-rep deadlifts. Doesn’t that say something? Again, these guys could probably do high-rep deads themselves, but they’re speaking as a general rule of thumb… As I am here.
There are probably some other things that I was thinking of that I forgot to mention as I’ve just puked out a ton of words that could constitute an article in and of itself, but let me know if you disagree with any of those points and I’m happy to share my thoughts. I’m not much of an internet tough guy so I’m receptive to your opinion and will consider what you have to say. You’re obviously an experienced lifter so all power to you there.
But if I had to sum up my take: MOST (not all) people can’t do high-rep deads with good form, let alone for high reps. Is there a time and place for people who compete in Crossfit or strongman comps? Absolutely. And for people who can do so well? Go for it. But that’s not who I’m talking to here, and that’s a small percentage.