Devastating news -- for the Nats and all of baseball:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/nationalsjournal/2010/08/stephen_strasburg_prob...Stephen Strasburg 'probably' needs Tommy John surgery, will miss 12 to 18 months
Rookie phenom Stephen Strasburg will "probably" miss at least one year and perhaps the entire 2011 baseball season after undergoing Tommy John surgery to replace the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, General Manager Mike Rizzo said. After one of the most electrifying beginnings to a baseball career in memory and after validating the massive hype that trumpeted his arrival, Strasburg ends his season with an uncertain future. The Washington Nationals will hold their breath.
Strasburg will receive a second opinion from Dr. Lewis Yocum, the surgeon who performed Tommy John surgery on Jordan Zimmermann. But the Nationals are operating under the assumption Strasburg will need Tommy John surgery to repair a "significant" tear in his UCL, Mike Rizzo said.
The Nationals discovered the damaged ligament Thursday morning when team doctor Wiemi Douoguih administered an arthrogram, an enhanced MRI exam in which dye is shot into the specified area. The Nationals had been unclear about Strasburg's injury prior to the test and were considering Strasburg's injury a strained flexor tendon in his forearm.
Tommy John surgery requires a grueling, 12-to-18 month rehab, but the success rate for pitchers returning to full strength and capability is roughly 90 percent. While the surgery will rob Strasburg of most if not all of next season, the chances he will be able to continue his career as a flame-throwing strikeout artist are strong.
Strasburg finishes his first year in the majors with a 5-3 record, a 2.91 ERA, 17 walks and 92 strikeouts in 68 innings, giving him the highest strikeout rate per nine innings -- 12.2 -- of any starting pitcher in the majors.
The first sign Strasburg would need the major surgery on his elbow came Saturday in Philadelphia, in the middle of one of his best starts this season. He threw a 1-1 changeup in the fifth inning to Phillies outfielder Domonic Brown, then grimaced and reached for his elbow. He believed he could pitch through the sudden tightness he felt, but the Nationals yanked him the game. In the dugout, pitching coach Steve McCatty slammed shut the small metal door covering the bullpen phone.
Strasburg also experienced inflammation in his right shoulder, which caused the Nationals to scratch him front a start in late July and place him on the disabled list for the first time. Strasburg made only three more starts before pain shot through his one-in-a-million right arm again.
The Nationals tried to proceed with caution in every way they could, limiting Strasburg's pitches and innings during his two-month stay in the minor leagues and when he arrived in the majors. Strasburg never threw more than seven innings or threw more than 99 pitches in any one start. Between the minors and majors, Strasburg threw 123 1/3 innings.
But Strasburg still succumbed to the same fate as Jordan Zimmermann, another young right-hander the Nationals project as a frontline starter. Zimmermann required Tommy John surgery last August after his elbow broke down in late July before he reached 100 major league innings. Zimmermann returned to the majors Thursday night, 399 days after he underwent surgery and almost exactly 13 months since his last major league appearance.
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