Nats rookie pitcher Stephen Strasburg moved one step closer to Tommy John surgery on his right elbow with a visit to Dr. Lew Yocum in Los Angeles on Monday. Yocum is one of the country’s preeminent orthopaedic surgeons and is expected to perform the procedure on Strasburg later this week, general manager Mike Rizzo told reporters in Miami. That’s where the Nats begin a six-game road trip tonight against the Florida Marlins.
No surprise there. Rizzo said as much on Friday at Nationals Park and the trip to Dr. Yocum’s office was in effect a third – and final – opinion on the ligament tear in Strasburg’s elbow. Should know tonight, according to reports, the exact date for Strasburg’s surgery. As he goes through the rehabilitation process, speculation will follow Strasburg everywhere he goes. Will he maintain his velocity? His curveball? His command? No one knows. One person who went through it – and returned to pitch at a high level – is former Atlanta Braves pitcher John Smoltz, now an analyst for MLB Network. His take:
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“Here’s the advantage that [Strasburg] has: he’s a big-league pitcher even though he doesn’t have big-league time. What I mean by that is that he knows how to pitch,” Smoltz said. “A young guy typically doesn’t know how to pitch…He will be able to know that when he comes back and throws pain free he can be successful as a pitcher and not just a guy who has a 98 mile-an-hour fastball. A lot of guys only get back to the level that they were at. I really believe, if handled correctly, he will be a better pitcher and may not necessarily be the guy who throws 98, 99 miles-an-hour. He will develop in a way that will benefit his future if handled correctly.”
Smoltz admitted that Tommy John surgery did force him to change his mechanics a bit. He could no longer throw the four-seam slider that he snapped off at the end of his delivery. The arm speed just wasn’t there anymore. Of course, that was when Smoltz was 32 – not 22 like Strasburg. But Smoltz believes his new slider was a more consistent pitch. His biggest problem was staying with the rehab timetable and not trying to push his arm before it was ready to respond. Knowing Strasburg’s competitiveness that could be an issue for him, too. That was one thing teammate Jordan Zimmermann warned Strasburg about when the two spoke briefly last week.
“I was so good at five and six months [after the surgery] that I would’ve had the surgery had I known this way before,” Smoltz said. “But what I didn’t realize is the time [needed] after the six months and then getting used to the new ligament. The more time you’re able to put on that ligament, the better, and the stronger is gets over time.”
Smoltz felt so good he overdid it and eventually developed the tendonitis common to pitchers who undergo Tommy John surgery. Usually that happens early in the process, the pitcher takes a step back and then the pain resolves itself and the pitcher makes a full recovery. Was listening to the real Tommy John on the Parker and Parker show on 106.7 – The Fan on Sunday and he said he wanted to reach out to Strasburg, if possible. Smoltz says that before his own surgery John called him and explained how he pitched another 11 years after having the surgery at age 34. Smoltz had been contemplating retirement. His talk with John erased those thoughts from his mind.
“It’s not the end of the world but it certainly is a damper that you don’t get your feet wet long enough to really have anything set in. The luxury will be the history that’s on his side from all the people who’ve been able to go through it,” Smoltz said. “And there’s a big old fraternity of guys that have gone through it and will give him insight. He’ll be certainly with the best of care and he’ll have the knowledge that goes all the way back to Tommy John. They have developed a program that is pretty good and if his work ethic is everything that everyone has told me about, he’ll be fine. It’ll be the longest year of his life, but he will be better for it.”
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