The Nationals received a tough break Monday when they learned pitcher Scott Olsen will miss the rest of the season with a small labral tear in his left shoulder
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But the news could have been much, much worse. Tommy John surgery is now a relatively easy process to repair torn elbow ligaments. It might take a full year to recover, but the list of pitchers who have done so is endless. A torn labrum, on the other hand, is a pitcher’s worst nightmare — a lengthy rehabilitation without any guarantee that velocity will return.
Nats team doctor Wiemi Douoguih will perform Olsen’s surgery on Thursday and believes the pitcher will be ready for spring training because his tear is smaller. Larger tears — or pitchers found to have rotator-cuff damage during surgery — are far more ominous.
Former Nationals relief pitcher Ryan Wagner was a flame-throwing right-hander drafted No. 14 overall in 2003. He underwent labrum surgery in 2007 and returned to make 23 appearances in the minors in 2008. But his ERA at Triple-A Columbus that year was 5.68 and in 13 games at Syracuse this season it was 6.11. Wagner wasn’t the same pitcher he had been and — despite going through the surgery and arduous rehab process — decided he’d had enough and retired from the sport in May.
