A.J. Russell to Have Tommy John Surgery

[TheMookieMonster]

I feel like this needs its own thread.

 

[VolFanGBO]

****

 

[@1RBFjr]

I feel like this needs its own thread.

Shoot. Hope he has a speedy recovery.

 

[cjbongoinstructor]

Assume that means he will likely be out next season?

 

[TheMookieMonster]

Shoot. Hope he has a speedy recovery.

Very unfortunate. Likely that he misses most, if not all, of next season as well. Such a huge talent that we may sadly never see pitch in orange much.

 

[TheMookieMonster]

Assume that means he will likely be out next season?

Hard to say, but TJ recovery is usually 9 months minimum, but most of the time it’s around a year. I would say it’s very likely he doesn’t pitch at all next year.

 

[cncchris33]

That sucks. He'll likely miss the majority, if not all of next season, now. Wish they had pursued this route when he originally hurt the arm and we might have him back for the latter half of next season.

 

[BruisedOrange]

I feel like this needs its own thread.

Yes, thank you for giving AJ his own thread as we learn how we can support him on this leg of his journey.

 

[Jxn Vol]

Hope he comes back better than ever and contributes to our 3pete CWS championship run in 2 years

 

[Orange.]

Very sad news, but not a complete shock. Wish him a full recovery and all the best.

 

[Jxn Vol]

The science is still not great on a lot of the treatments of this injury. PRP, internal bracing, repair, etc.

Sometimes it’s better to go ahead and get the UCL reconstructed. It is delaying the inevitable with some of this stuff

 

[volplaya8]

Hope for speedy recovery and good luck with your pro career AJ!!!!

 

[ArdentVol]

Very unfortunate. Likely that he misses most, if not all, of next season as well. Such a huge talent that we may sadly never see pitch in orange much.

one of those stories that makes you wonder about pressing the like button.
Hoping for a speedy recovery, which never seems to be the case

 

[Bigvalley84]

I hate that for AJ but we’ve seen a lot of pitchers recover nicely from it and be just as good , good luck AJ

 

[CAVPUT]

I feel like this needs its own thread.

I knew it. That much soreness in a kid that age with so much rest screamed something was wrong. Said he'd end up getting a procedure done. Hoping for a complete and speedy recovery. Odd that I'd just watched a video about Dickey and his "genetic abnormality" that led to his knuckler.

 

[TheBigOne10]

That sucks. He'll likely miss the majority, if not all of next season, now. Wish they had pursued this route when he originally hurt the arm and we might have him back for the latter half of next season.

Are you implying negligence by the coaching and training staff? These are tricky things. Feel like they were as cautious with rest and milestones as they could possibly be.

 

[vol66]

Sad for the kid, sorry he’s gotta go through this. I really hoped, all year, that it wasn’t TJ. Wish him nothing but the best, it’s all still there.

GBO!!!

 

[cncchris33]

Are you implying negligence by the coaching and training staff? These are tricky things. Feel like they were as cautious with rest and milestones as they could possibly be.

I'm not really implying anything, and I certainly benefit from hindsight being 20/20. I'm just saying that it seemed something was amiss early on, he had a known setback, and there was still a push to get him back and available for a late-season run for this postseason. Looking back, he's likely lost two seasons now instead of one. How much of that is his fault, the staff's fault, or no one's fault, we may never truly know. It just sucks that a kid with his level of talent is going to miss the biggest parts of two seasons to one injury.

 

[malibuvol]

Did they do an MRI early on, or just waited until recently??

 

[Tnphil]

Hate to hear.

I will be surprised to see him for 15 months...

 

[spyfish007]

I am curious if he will need to prove his worth in college or if the pros will still pay him based on what he has shown so far.

 

[Jxn Vol]

Are you implying negligence by the coaching and training staff? These are tricky things. Feel like they were as cautious with rest and milestones as they could possibly be.

The recommendations are mixed at the orthopedic surgeon level. One surgeon may recommend repair and PT. Another may recommend UCL reconstruction.

My only advice to anyone with kids coming up playing ball. Go to a surgeon that does a lot of these procedures. Don’t go to a guy that does 4 or 5 a year. Go to an elbow specialist that treats these a lot.

The rehab is key. And the surgeon that does a lot of these, 100% has a physical therapist that knows how to on-ramp the elbow and protect the graft they implant. That’s the important part of this whole deal.

 

[Special Ed]

My dear departed brother once lost all his hair to chemotherapy and had to have what he called Elton John surgery to restore his locks:



He had a great sense of humor and always laughed at this comparison.
I miss him dearly.

 

[fryeguy93]

Hindsight is 20/20 and we don't know anything about the situation; but we've seen this in college and the pros where a pitcher is put on light and reduced duty only to need TJ anyway (see Stephen Strasburg)

I appreciate AJ busting his butt trying to get back this season, but now wish he had the surgery months ago

 

[TheMookieMonster]

It’s not surprising, really. TJ surgery almost feels too commonplace these days. And it’s almost exclusive to guys that through with relatively high velocity like AJ. I know correlation doesn’t equal causation, but man this has felt like a trend in the MLB this year and it’s only impacting more and more players now.