UTK Blast 9/19/20

Breaking: Verlander Needs Tommy John

Sadly breaking news - Justin Verlander told the media that he will need Tommy John surgery. This is a stunner as recent reports had Verlander doing well and my own sources told me that the Astros were planning on working Verlander back in to the rotation quickly ahead of the playoffs.

Verlander had been out with a forearm strain since the start of summer camp and once again, this is a situation that seems like forearm strains lead to elbow sprains, but there’s no evidence of this aside from anecdotal and Verlander’s elbow was not sprained at the time of the initial injury, per MRI. This is a new, acute injury to the UCL.

Verlander will need reconstructive surgery and under normal timelines would miss all of ‘21. An aggressive timeline would have him back no better than the All Star game next season. One has to wonder if InternalBrace will be considered, given his age and contract status. Watch to see where Verlander goes for opinions and surgery for clues on this.

I will continue to follow this story and will have more updates on Monday in the normal Under The Knife.