UTK Flash 3/24/20

Noah Syndegaard heading to Tommy John surgery

Jeff Passan had the bad news first - Noah Syndegaard will be the latest pitcher to undergo Tommy John surgery, reconstructing his elbow. He is the fourth pitcher after the COVID pause to be scheduled for the surgery.

Syndegaard is a hard thrower and it is known that the harder the throw, the more torque on the elbow. Save for Aroldis Chapman, no pitcher that has thrown 100 mph in the major leagues has lasted long without injuring either their elbow or shoulder.

(If anyone has any idea why this is, I’d love to hear it.)

The good news? Almost all come back throwing about the same, albeit a year later and with a hard rehab behind them. Syndegaard sets up well for this. Despite a reputation as a bit of a party boy, he’s often done a lot of work in the offseason, notably putting on twenty pounds of muscle a couple seasons ago. (You can see some of his offseason work from this year in the video above.)

The downside is that his hard work hasn’t helped his pitching. Syndegaard is great, naturally gifted, but really didn’t make the leap many expected. One of the reasons the Mets initially brought in Mickey Callaway was the thought that Callaway’s “pitching whisperer” reputation would work on the power arms the Mets had collected.

There is of course the question about how this happened. Syndegaard was having no issues during spring training and obviously kept throwing but what he was doing or even where is unknown. The timeline of is surgery is also unknown, since elective surgeries in many parts of the country are on hold. Mets’ team doctor David Altchek is the most likely surgeon, but nothing has been confirmed.

[UPDATE: After sending, ESPN confirmed the surgery would be done by Altchek. It is scheduled for this Thursday at the Hospital for Special Surgery, despite HSS suspending “non-essential treatments” over a week ago. According to Becker’s Hospital Review, a respected medical site, HSS added capacity to deal with orthopedic injuries at several of its sites, including its New York hub.]

I was asked recently whether the two Tommy Johns that were announced by the Padres indicated that teams believed that then 2020 season would be significantly delayed, to the point where the games-cost of surgery would be reduced. Speaking in general and directly to some Padres sources, that’s simply not the case. Tommy John surgery is done when the UCL is incapable of holding the elbow together, not because the timing is convenient. Yes, in some cases where things are right on the edge - think a case like Garrett Canning where there’s a reported 15 percent tear - it could tip the balance, but no one - no one - is having this surgery on an elective basis.

Syndegaard will miss all of 2020, but should be in a position to be back in games very early in 2021, if not in spring training. The Mets have historically been a bit slow with returns, but some of that is based on the strange case of Matt Harvey. I’d expect Syndegaard to be a more normal twelve to fourteen months to return.