Tommy John Surgery Tracker

originally posted in September 2010; last updated 2/5/11 9:43 AM PST
by Jason Martinez

Scroll to the bottom of the page for a full list of players that are currently recovering from, or very likely to undergo Tommy John surgery. I'll remove them from the list once they pitch again in a regular season game.

You can add Stephen Strasburg, the guy who many argue is the greatest pitching prospect of all-time, to the list of baseball players who have undergone or will require Tommy John surgery, known in medical practice as Ulnar Collateral Ligament Reconstruction. Many have recovered from the procedure to become successful major league pitchers. It just takes awhile. Typical recovery is 12-18 months for a pitcher (usually less time is necessary for a position player).

Edinson Volquez of the Reds was a rare exception, returning to the majors 10 months after surgery, although his command has come and gone in his eight starts since he was officially activated from the DL on July 17th. The 27 year-old was terrific in four starts, awful in the other four. That's typical. He's was moved to the bullpen and then optioned to Lo-A Dayton where he will try to get it together in time to help the team down the stretch.

Another recent example of a pitcher making a fairly quick return from TJ Surgery is Jordan Zimmermann of the Nationals. He made his 2010 debut last week, allowing 5 ER's and 7 hits in 4 IP, approximately 12 months after undergoing surgery. Unlike Volquez, his team is not in a pennant race so they can afford to let Zimmermann work on finding his command during a few late-season starts.

Braves pitcher Kris Medlen, who underwent TJ surgery on August 18th, will be blogging about his recovery at krismedlen.blogspot.com. The 24 year-old was 6-2 with a 3.68 ERA in 107.2 IP for the first-place Braves when he injured his elbow on August 4th. Now he'll be lucky to be back on the 25-man roster before September 2011.

Check out a few other interesting links regarding Tommy John surgery:

'Inside Tommy John Surgery': Will Carroll, formerly of Baseball Prospectus, posts an article by San Francisco writer Tom Gorman, that Carroll says 'still holds up remarkably well' despite being written five years ago. And here is Carroll's Sports Illustrated article from March 9th, 2011, where he discusses the surgery and recovery time in depth.

'Want to save arms from blowing out? Don't put them in coach': Gregg Doyel of CBSSports.com argues that the damage is being done early on, as kids are now more likely to play baseball year round.

'Tommy John Surgery has come a long way': AP Baseball Writer Jon Crawczynski wrote this piece that was posted on stltoday.com in August 2010.

'Tommy John Surgery - Wikipedia': This page has a list of every baseball player who has undergone the surgery.

I'm gonna take it one step further and provide a current list, which I have put together to the best of my ability, with the approximate surgery date and updates on how the player is progressing. Players are listed in order of the date of surgery so the players at the bottom of the list are most likely furthest along in their recovery. Some of the minor leaguer injuries fly under the radar so please let me know if I'm missing anyone. I will post updates as often as necessary.

Players on Major League Rosters
•John Lackey, RHP - BOS UPDATE 11/01/11 - underwent TJ surgery
•Carlos Carrasco, RHP - CLE UPDATE 9/6/11 - will undergo TJ surgery
•Juan Gutierrez, RHP - ARI UPDATE 9/6/11 - underwent TJ surgery
•Zack Cozart, SS - CIN UPDATE 8/11/11 - will undergo TJ surgery
•Brad Hawpe, 1B/OF - SD UPDATE 8/05/11 - will undergo TJ surgery
•Rubby De La Rosa, RHP - LAD UPDATE 8/2/11 - will undergo TJ surgery
•David Aardsma, RHP - SEA UPDATE 7/15/11 - will undergo TJ surgery
•Brett Anderson, LHP - OAK UPDATE 7/14/11 - will undergo TJ surgery
•Joba Chamberlain, RHP - NYY UPDATE 6/10/11 - will undergo TJ surgery
•Rich Hill, LHP - BOS UPDATE 6/9/11 - underwent TJ surgery
•Daisuke Matsuzaka, RHP - BOS UPDATE 6/2/11 - will undergo TJ surgery 
•Mason Tobin, RHP - TEX UPDATE 6/1/11 - underwent TJ surgery
•Jorge De La Rosa, LHP - COL UPDATE 5/25/11 - will undergo TJ surgery
•Adam Wainwright, RHP - STL UPDATE 2/28/11 - underwent TJ surgery
•Jamie Moyer, LHP - Free Agent UPDATE 11/29/10 - will undergo TJ surgery
•Hector Ambriz, RHP - CLE UPDATE 9/29/10 - will undergo TJ surgery
•Manny Corpas, RHP - COL UPDATE 9/07/10 - undewent TJ surgery
•Erick Threets, LHP - CWS UPDATE 8/29/10 - will undergo TJ surgery
•Ben Sheets, RHP - OAK UPDATE 8/9/10 - underwent TJ surgery
•Chris Coste, C - Free Agent UPDATE 5/21/10 - underwent TJ surgery
•Anthony Reyes, RHP - CLE UPDATE 6/15/09: underwent TJ surgery  

Players on Minor League Rosters
Charlie Haeger, RHP - BOS UPDATE 2/5/12 - will undergo TJ surgery
Chia-Jen Lo, RHP - HOU UPDATE 2/5/12 - underwent TJ surgery near the end of the 2011 season
Kyle Gibson, RHP - MIN UPDATE 9/1/11 - will undergo TJ surgery
Jose Casilla, RHP - SF UPDATE 8/5/11 - underwent TJ surgery sometime between May and August
Carlos Monasterios, RHP - LAD UPDATE 7/15/11 - underwent TJ surgery
Adam O'Neill, RHP - NYM UPDATE 7/7/11 - underwent TJ surgery

Robert Whitenack, RHP - CHC UPDATE 6/4/11 - will undergo TJ surgery
John Lamb, LHP - KC UPDATE 6/2/11 - will undergo TJ surgery
Drew Naylor, RHP - PHI UPDATE 5/31/11 - underwent TJ surgery
Cam Bedrosian, RHP - LAA: UPDATE 5/18/11 - underwent TJ surgery
Jenrry Mejia, RHP - NYM: UPDATE 5/9/11 - will undergo TJ surgery
Stephen Marek, RHP - ATL: UPDATE 5/6/11 - will undergo TJ surgery
Boof Bonser, RHP - NYM: UPDATE 4/14/11 - will undergo TJ surgery
Matt Gorgen, RHP - ARI: UPDATE 3/5/11 - will undergo TJ surgery
Cla Meredith, RHP - WAS: UPDATE 3/2/11 - will undergo TJ surgery
Scott Gorgen, RHP - STL: UPDATE 10/18/10 - will undergo TJ surgery
Vincent Velazquez, RHP - HOU: UPDATE 9/22/10 - underwent TJ surgery
Hector Rendon, RHP - CLE: UPDATE 8/26/10 - underwent TJ surgery

Michael Ynoa, RHP - OAK: UPDATE 8/24/10 - underwent TJ surgery

Tyler Henley, OF - STL: UPDATE 7/20/10 - underwent TJ surgery
Jack McGeary, LHP - WAS: UPDATE 6/10/10 - underwent TJ surgery

Arnold Leon, RHP - OAK: UPDATE 5/26/10 - underwent TJ surgery

Stephen Matz, LHP - NYM: UPDATE 5/18/10 - underwent TJ surgery

Juan Jaime, RHP - ARI: UPDATE 4/1/10 - underwent TJ surgery

Tyler Yates, RHP - PIT: UPDATE 7/15/09 - underwent TJ surgery