Successful comebacks changing perception of procedure on elbow
The Nationals prized phenom — who signed for a record-breaking four-year, $15.1 million contract — will likely have to undergo the most terrifying operation in sports. Stephen Strasburg is expected to have Tommy John surgery.
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“As you can imagine, he was initially upset,” [Nationals] general manager Mike Rizzo said. “But he has really turned himself from being upset to being focused on his rehabilitation.”
The procedure replaces a ligament in the elbow with a tendon from somewhere else in the body and requires 12 to 18 months to recover. The lengthy rehab has caused Tommy John surgery to garner a certain stigma. But with the abundance of success stories, the perception of the procedure is changing.
“I think there are a lot of fans that think it’s life threatening or something,” Nationals manager Jim Riggleman said. “These success stories afterwards is encouraging to the players and encouraging to the organizations that a guy can come back as good or better than ever.”
Back when Tommy John — the pitcher the surgery is named after — had the operation done in 1974, he was given little chance of recovering. But after 18 months of rehab, John went on to pitch until 1989.
Since John, there has been a long list of players that have fully recovered. Nine pitchers at the 2010 All-Star Game had Tommy John surgery.
The operation has had so many successes that it has earned the misconception that pitchers improve performance and velocity after the operation. Dr. James Andrews reported that parents have even asked for the procedure to be done to their uninjured kids.
“I don’t think the surgery has got any magic [with] guys coming back throwing harder or coming back better,” said St. Louis left-hander Jaime Garcia, who had Tommy John surgery in 2008 and is making a case for NL rookie of the year this season.
One theory as to why pitchers have such favorable post-surgery outcomes is that the rehabilitation process forces more emphasis on a pitcher’s delivery. During Garcia’s recovery, he worked closely with his pitching coach to correct his mechanics.
Nationals Park hosted a battle of the surgically repaired arms on Thursday night. Washington’s Jordan Zimmermann was making his first major league start since the righty had Tommy John surgery, while St. Louis’ Chris Carpenter could be the poster boy for coming back from that procedure.
The Cardinals right-hander had 486 days between starts after having the operation done in 2007. He bounced back from the elbow injury to finish second in the Cy Young voting last season, going 17-4 with a 2.24 ERA. This year, Carpenter is 14-4 with a 2.93 ERA and 144 strikeouts.
“Patience,” Carpenter said when asked what advice he’d give to a pitcher recovering from Tommy John surgery. “I wouldn’t expect to be at 100 percent right at the beginning, but by the time he gets to spring training next year he’ll be pretty excited about the way he feels.”
Zimmermann pitched in the minor leagues just 11 months after surgery, posting a 1.59 ERA in his 10-start minor league stint.
But his year-long process of returning to the majors started well before his July 3 appearance at Single-A Potomac.
“The toughest part was [rehabbing] in Florida with everyone gone, in 100-degree heat and counting down the days down there,” he said.
As history has shown, there’s a certain payoff for the time spent rehabbing.
“[Carpenter’s] gone through the surgery and he’s been one of the most dominant pitchers the last couple years,” Zimmermann said. “There’s hope.”
And there’s hope for Strasburg, too.
Washington Examiner staff writer Brian McNally contributed to this report.
