Mike Pelfrey Will Have Tommy John Surgery

Tommy John surgery, now nearly 40 years after its namesake underwent the first such procedure, is considered routine. Dozens of pitchers in the major and minor leagues undergo it each year, and many of them return stronger than they were before. Tommy John himself had almost 15 seasons in the major leagues after his surgery, and was a key contributor to World Series teams.

So that’s the good news for Pelfrey. The bad news is 12 to 18 months of rehab to get back to pitching form. That seems a small price to pay to save a career.

He had some swelling in his elbow that forced him to the disabled list; a torn ligament was reported on Tuesday, and now, New York Daily News Mets beat writer Andy Martino reports:

Pelfrey is 28. Tommy John surgery generally means 12 to 18 months before a pitcher can get back on a major league mound, so it’s possible Pelfrey won’t be back pitching before 2014. Even then, though, he’d be just 30, so he could still come back and have several productive seasons, assuming the surgery is successful.

The UCL is the ligament that gets replaced in Tommy John surgery. When a pitcher has a complete tear of the UCL, he needs Tommy John, or he needs to retire. When a pitcher has a partial tear of the UCL, he can choose between Tommy John and non-surgical rehab, but what often happens when a pitcher chooses rehab is that he ends up having surgery anyway. So, we’ll await further word with Pelfrey. The source says the Mets are preparing to lose Pelfrey for 2012, and if his UCL is damaged, well, that’s the sensible thing to do.

So this is something of a surprise:

So it goes.