It was just over a year ago when we heard the same words from Nats general manager Mike Rizzo. His organization had consulted with two doctors and was waiting on a third opinion from a renowned specialist. Yes, Tommy John surgery was likely. But, hey, the success rate is almost 90 percent. It’s a temporary setback not a catastrophe. They were the words of comfort that any pro sports executive uses when a star player is injured.
Then Rizzo was speaking about right-handed pitcher Jordan Zimmermann, who found out last Aug. 10 he needed Tommy John surgery on his right elbow. Today the news was even worse. Stephen Strasburg, the No. 1 pick in the 2009 draft and the player Washington’s rebuilding hopes rest upon the most, needs Tommy John surgery, too. He will miss 12-to-18 months depending on how his rehabilitation goes. Read our story on that announcement here.
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By the time Strasburg undergoes surgery he will only be about two weeks behind Zimmermann, who had his procedure done Aug. 19, 2009 and was back pitching in a minor-league game by July 3. That’s about as fast a recovery as you can have and an encouraging thought for the Nats and their fans. With Rizzo saying surgery could happen the day after Dr. Lewis Yokum gives his final opinion it’s not out of the question you will see Strasburg back on the mound at Nationals Park by next Sept. 1.
Hard to see how the Nats could have done more to protect Strasburg. He didn’t pitch last summer while negotiations between Washington and his agent, Scott Boras, dragged on. He did pitch in their Instructional League in Viera, Fla. last September and then in the Arizona Fall League last October. But they limited his innings this season and had him pitch 55 1/3 innings in Double-A and Triple-A before promoting him – even though he easily could have made the big-league team out of spring training. Strasburg averaged 92 pitches-per-game once he made it to the majors for good on June 8.
“Yes, I’d have to describe it as frustrating because these injuries to pitchers happen to people you think they shouldn’t happen to,” Rizzo said. “This player was developed and cared for the correct way and he was developed in the correct way. And things like this happen. Pitchers break down, pitchers get hurt. We’re certainly not second guessing ourselves.”
That certainly appears legitimate. But if that is the case then is there something inherently wrong with Strasburg’s mechanics that caused his ulnar collateral ligament to tear? This is a pitcher, after all, who was regularly throwing in the high 90s late into games and – at least in his first six or seven major-league starts – hit 100 a couple of times every start. There’s just no way to answer that question and anyone who tries is just guessing. We don’t even know for sure if Strasburg’s elbow was fraying from his time in college – where San Diego State head coach Tony Gwynn was also reportedly careful with his star pitcher – or if that one fateful pitch in Philadelphia was all it took for the ligament to rip.
“That’s really a difficult question for the doctors to answer,” Rizzo said. “I asked the question myself. They think that it was an acute injury from a particular pitch. But you can’t rule out that there was something there. But our doctors looking at the film, looking at the type of tear that Stephen has it probably was from a one-pitch incident that tore the ligament.”
The Nats, as all major League Baseball organizations do now, took MRIs of Strasburg’s shoulder and elbow last summer to use as a baseline in case any future problems occurred. They all showed up clean, which could simply mean any tears or damage already done were too small to see. Or that it really was one pitch that took Strasburg out for at least 12 months. For the Nats, that is the scariest notion of all.
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