Latest news with #TommyJohnSurgery
Reuters
2 days ago
- Sport
- Reuters
Eury Perez looks to continue stellar July as Marlins host Padres
July 21 - Not all elbow operations are created equally. Take, for example, Miami Marlins right-hander Eury Perez, who is set to start on Monday night against the visiting San Diego Padres. The 22-year-old native of the Dominican Republic has made an amazing recovery from Tommy John surgery, posting a 3-2 record with a 3.18 ERA this year. In three July starts, Perez is 3-0 with a 0.50 ERA, meaning he is getting better as the season progresses. Meanwhile, Perez's teammate and fellow Dominican, Sandy Alcantara, has struggled after his elbow surgery. The 2022 National League Cy Young Award winner is 4-9 with a 7.14 ERA this year. Perez had his surgery in April of 2024 and he was activated this year on June 9. That's a 14-month recovery. Alcantara, 29, had his surgery in October of 2023 and returned to the mound this year on March 27. That's a 17-month recovery. So, despite having a recovery time that is three months shorter than that of Alcantara, Perez is having far and away the better results of the two. But that hasn't stopped Alcantara from mentoring Perez, who has never faced the Padres. As for the Marlins overall, they are 21-11 over their past 32 games following Sunday's loss to the Kansas City Royals that snapped Miami's four-game win streak. "Trying to win series," Marlins rookie manager Clayton McCullough said of the Marlins' mindset on Sunday. "That's what we're going to continue to focus on ... and not get too far ahead of ourselves." On the other side on Monday will be the Padres, who have won three straight three-game series. They also split a four-game series during that span. On Sunday, the Padres routed the host Washington Nationals 8-1 as Xander Bogaerts hit a first-inning grand slam. San Diego's Manny Machado also hit a grand slam in Friday's 7-2 win over Washington. "We could be 'Slam Diego' again," Padres manager Mike Shildt joked, referring to the nickname given to the team after they hit a grand slam in a record four straight games in 2020. "I'm fine with it." The Padres, who would be an NL wild-card playoff team if the season ended on Sunday, are expected to pitch right-hander Randy Vasquez (3-4, 3.80 ERA) to open their series in Miami. Vasquez, a 26-year-old native of the Dominican Republic, is 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA in two career games (one start) against the Marlins. He made his major league debut in 2023 with the New York Yankees and was part of the December 2023 trade that sent Juan Soto and Trent Grisham from San Diego to New York. He is 9-13 with a 4.10 ERA in 50 appearances (44 starts) in his career. As for San Diego's key players on offense this year, two of them have ties to Miami. Machado, who has 18 homers, 60 RBIs and an .843 OPS in 99 games this year, is a Miami native. And reigning three-time batting champion Luis Arraez won the second of those titles while playing for the Marlins. He also began 2024 in Miami before a May trade to San Diego. So far this season, however, he is hitting just .284, 34 points below his career average. --Field Level Media
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Is there a way to mitigate pitching injuries? The Rays (and Dodgers) may shed some light
Tommy John surgery was never supposed to go this far. It was once a cross-your-fingers-and-pray fix for a career-ending injury. Now, MLB teams cycle through as many as 40-plus pitchers a year, knowing that surgery is a phone call away. Just ask John himself, a left-hander who never threw all that hard, only reaching the mid-80s on his sinking fastball. The soft-throwing lefty was having his best year as a Dodgers starting pitcher in 1974. He didn't have the strikeout acumen of teammate Andy Messersmith, or the ace makeup of future Hall of Famer Don Sutton. But what John did have was consistency. John consistently pitched late into games, and sent opposing hitters back to the dugout without reaching first base. Read more: Pitching injuries continue to be an issue in MLB. How it's impacting pitchers at all levels 'The game of baseball is 27 outs,' said John, now 82. 'It wasn't about throwing hard. It's, how do I get you out?' He was the first to go under the knife. The first to lead pitchers through a dangerous cycle of throwing as hard as possible, knowing the safeguard is surgery. 'I threw one pitch and boom, the ligament exploded,' John said. John's arm injury left a sensation akin to what an amputee feels after losing a limb. In 1978, he told Sports Illustrated, 'It felt as if I had left my arm someplace else.' He didn't feel pain. He felt loss. His left arm was his career. It was the direct cause for his toeing the Dodger Stadium mound in the first place. Then, John went on to pitch another 15 years in MLB. It's the same loss that Hall of Fame Dodgers left-hander Sandy Koufax felt when he retired at age 30 after numerous arm injuries, which could have likely been fixed if current elbow and shoulder surgeries had existed in 1966. It's the same loss that Texas Rangers team physician Keith Meister sees walking daily into his office. Today, Meister can view MRI scans of elbow tears and can tell pitchers where and how they hold the baseball. The tear patterns are emblematic of the pitches being thrown in the first place. The solution — Tommy John surgery, a once-revolutionary elbow operation — replaces a torn or partially damaged ulnar collateral ligament in the elbow with a tendon from somewhere else in the body. The operation is no quick fix. It requires a 13- to 14-month recovery period, although Meister said some pitchers may require just 12 months — and some up to 18. Meister, who is currently tallying data and researching the issue, wants to be part of the change. Midway through an October phone interview, he bluntly stopped in his tracks and asked a question. 'What is the average length of a major-league career for a major-league pitcher?' he said. Meister explained that the average career for an MLB pitcher is just 2.6 years. Along with numerous other interviewees, he compared the epidemic to another sport's longevity problem: the National Football League running back. 'People say to me, 'Well, that sounds like a running back in football,'' Meister said. 'Think about potentially the money that gets saved with not having to even get to arbitration, as long as organizations feel like they can just recycle and, you know, next man up, right?' Financial ramifications play close to home between pitchers and running backs as well. Lower durability and impact have led to decreasing running-back salaries. If pitchers continue to have shorter careers, as Meister puts it, MLB franchises might be happy to cycle through minimum-salary pitchers instead of shelling out large salaries for players who remain on the injured list rather than in the bullpen. The Dodgers and the Tampa Bay Rays have shuffled through pitchers at league extremes over the last five years. In the modern era — since 1901 — only the Rays and Dodgers have used more than 38 pitchers in a season three times each. Tampa used 40-plus pitchers each year from 2021 to 2023. Last year, the Dodgers used 40 pitchers. Only the Miami Marlins tasked more with 45. The Dodgers have already used 35 pitchers this season, second-most in baseball. The Rays tallied just 30 in 2024 and have dispatched just 23 on the mound so far this season. What gives? Meister says the Rays may have changed their pitcher philosophy. Early proponents of sweepers and other high-movement pitches, the Rays now rank near the bottom of the league (29th with just 284 thrown) in sweeper usage entering Saturday's action, according to Baseball Savant. Two years ago, the Rays threw the seventh most. Tampa is rising to the top of MLB in two-seam fastball usage, Meister said, a pitch he says creates potentially much less stress on the elbow. Their starting pitchers are second in baseball in the number of innings, and they've used just six starting pitchers all season. 'It's equated to endurance for their pitchers, because you know why? They're healthy, they're able to pitch, they're able to post and they're able to go deeper into games,' Meister said. 'Maybe teams will see this and they'll be like, 'Wait a minute, look what these guys won with. Look how they won. We don't need to do all this crap anymore.'' The Dodgers, on the other hand, rank ninth in sweeper usage (1,280 thrown through Friday) and have used 16 starting pitchers (14 in traditional starting roles). Meanwhile, their starting pitchers have compiled the fewest innings in MLB. Rob Hill, the Dodgers' director of pitching, began his career at Driveline Baseball. The Dodgers hired him in 2020. Since then, the franchise has churned out top pitching prospect after top pitching prospect, many of whom throw devastating sweepers and change-ups. Read more: Hernández: Secret to Yoshinobu Yamamoto's 2025 success? His hero-like effort in NLDS Game 5 As of Saturday, the Dodgers have 10 pitchers on the injured list, six of whom underwent an elbow or shoulder operation — and since 2021, the team leads MLB in injury list stints for pitchers. 'There are only probably two teams in baseball that can just sit there and say, 'Well, if I get 15 to 20 starts out of my starting pitchers, it doesn't matter, because I'll replace them with somebody else I can buy,'' Meister said. 'That's the Yankees and the Dodgers.' He continued: 'Everybody else, they've got to figure out, wait a minute, this isn't working, and we need to preserve our commodity, our pitchers.' Outside of organizational strategy changes, like the Rays have made, Meister has expressed rule changes to MLB. He's suggested rethinking how the foul ball works or toying with the pitch clock to give a slightly longer break to pitchers. He said pitchers don't get a break on the field the same way hitters do in the batter's box. 'Part of the problem here is that a hitter has an ability to step out of the box and take a timeout,' Meister said. 'He has to go cover a foul ball and run over to first base and run back to the mound. He should have an opportunity take a break and take a blow.' Meister hopes to discuss reintroducing 'tack' — a banned sticky substance that helps a pitcher's grip on the ball — to the rulebook, something that pitchers such as Max Scherzer and Tyler Glasnow have called a factor in injuries. Meister has fellow leading experts on his side too. 'Myself and Dr. [Neal] ElAttrache are very good friends, and we talk at length about this,' said Meister. Meister explained that the lack of stickiness on the baseball causes pitchers to squeeze the ball as hard as possible. The 'death grip on the ball,' Meister said, causes the muscles on the inner side of the elbow to contract in the arm and then extend when the ball is released. The extension of the inner elbow muscles is called an eccentric load, which can create injury patterns. The harder the grip, the more violent the eccentric load becomes when a sweeper pitch, for example, is thrown, he said. 'Just let guys use a little bit of pine tar on their fingertips,' Meister said, adding that the pitchers already have to adjust to an inconsistent baseball, one that changes from season to season. 'Not, put it on the baseball, not glob the baseball with it, but put a little pine tar on their fingertips and give them a little better adherence to the baseball.' According to the New Yorker, MLB is exploring heavier or larger baseballs to slow pitchers' arm movements, potentially reducing strain on the UCL during maximum-effort pitches. Read more: Four major questions the Dodgers face in the second half of the season Meister, however, said there does not seem to be a sense of urgency to fix the game, with a years-long process to make any fixes. In short, Meister is ready to try anything. For a man who has made a career off baseball players nervously sitting in his office waiting room, awaiting news that could alter their careers forever, Meister wants MLB to help him stop players from ever scheduling that first appointment. 'To me, it's not about the surgery any more as much as it is, what can we do to prevent, and what can we do to alter, the approach that the game now takes?' Meister said. 'It's very, very dangerous.' Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Giants' strikeout artist begins injury comeback after not pitching in 2 years
Cole Waites hasn't pitched in a baseball game since late 2023. That changed Thursday night, when he began a rehab assignment at the San Francisco Giants' complex in Arizona. Waites is trying to complete the long road back from Tommy John surgery. The talented right-handed pitcher only got brief big league action before getting hurt, and he got hit around in his short San Francisco stint. In the minors, though, Waites has been dominant throughout his career. He has a 3.76 minor league ERA and has struck out 14.6 batters per nine innings as a minor league ballplayer. MORE: Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak was almost much longer than 56 games At 27 years old, Waites is a player who can still get back to the big leagues. It'll likely take a month-plus just to get Waites back to full strength at Triple-A, but if he gets to Sacramento and performs well, the Giants will have the chance to consider calling him up for the stretch run. MORE MLB NEWS: Trevor Bauer has the worst ERA in Japan's NPB Eugenio Suarez breaks silence on Yankees trade rumors Deion Sanders, Bo Jackson once had the most legendary clash at Yankee Stadium Cal Raleigh, aka Big Dumper, signs the perfect endorsement deal Aaron Judge reveals how long he plans to play in MLB Is Paul Skenes cursed?
CTV News
5 days ago
- Health
- CTV News
Dr. David Altchek, Mets medical director and Tommy John surgery pioneer, dies at 68
NEW YORK — Dr. David Altchek, who performed more than 2,000 Tommy John surgeries and was the New York Mets longtime medical director, died Thursday. He was 68. His death was announced by the Hospital for Special Surgery, where he was co-chief emeritus. Altchek told associates last year he had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. He was the Mets head team physician from 1991-2001 and medical director from 2005-24, physician of the U.S. Davis Cup team from 1999-2003 and North American medical director of the ATP Tour. Altchek was co-chief of HSS's sports medicine and shoulder service from 2005-14. 'While Dr. Altchek's intelligence and innovations certainly benefited his patients — and sports medicine in general — his biggest impact was his warm, friendly, caring personality,' said Glenn S. Fleisig, biomechanics research director of the American Sports Medicine Institute. 'Colleagues, friends, and patients all loved David and are thankful for the time we had with him.' A son of orthopedic surgeon Martin Altchek, David attended Middletown High School in New York, received his undergraduate degree at Columbia and his medical degree from Cornell University Medical College in 1982. He interned at The New York Hospital and became a resident at HSS, where he had a fellowship under Dr. Russell Warren, HSS's surgeon in chief from 1993-03 and a longtime team physician of the New York Giants. 'My first Tommy John surgery was in 1993, and I did the procedure that Dr. Jobe, Dr. Frank Jobe prescribed,' Altchek said during a 2024 interview with The Associated Press. 'It took 2 1/2 hours and I was exhausted. And I realized then that we had to do something about Tommy John surgery. We had to make it a little bit easier.' Working with residents and fellows, Altchek developed what was called a docking procedure and tested it on about 100 elbows. 'It worked and it worked amazingly well,' Altchek said. 'We really did not change it at all for 20-something years.' Altchek estimated last year he had performed more than 2,400 Tommy John surgeries. He was a preferred surgeon for the Tommy John procedure in recent years along with Texas Rangers physician Dr. Keith Meister and Los Angeles Dodgers head team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache. 'Renowned worldwide for his surgical expertise, he was equally admired for the compassion and care he showed to our players,' Mets owner Steve Cohen and wife Alex said in a statement. Part of Altchek's job was to reassure a player his baseball career was not over. 'You tell them this is unfortunate, but this is your MRI. This is probably why it happened — meaning you threw outside the envelope of your tissue quality," he explained. 'But we have a procedure that can repair your ligament and reconstruct it in a kind of belt, suspenders way that once it heals the likelihood of you going back to pitching at the same level or above is 95%.' Altchek received Columbia's John Jay Award for Distinguished Professional Achievement in 2003. He is survived by his wife, the former Anne Salmson, whom he married in 1981, sons Charles and Christopher, and daughters Chloe and Sophie. Charles is president of Major League Soccer's third-tier MLS Next Pro minor league and was the Ivy League men's soccer player of the year while at Harvard in 2005 and 2006. By Ronald Blum.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Dr. David Altchek, Mets medical director and Tommy John surgeon, dead at age 68
NEW YORK (AP) — Dr. David Altchek, who performed more than 2,000 Tommy John surgeries and was the New York Mets longtime medical director, died Thursday. He was 68. His death was announced by the Hospital for Special Surgery, where he was co-chief emeritus. Altchek told associates last year he had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. He was the Mets head team physician from 1991-2001 and medical director from 2005-24, physician of the U.S. Davis Cup team from 1999-2003 and North American medical director of the ATP Tour. Altchek was co-chief of HSS's sports medicine and shoulder service from 2005-14. 'While Dr. Altchek's intelligence and innovations certainly benefited his patients — and sports medicine in general — his biggest impact was his warm, friendly caring personality,' said Glenn S. Fleisig, biomechanics research director of the American Sports Medicine Institute. 'Colleagues, friends, and patients all loved David and are thankful for the time we had with him.' A son of orthopedic surgeon Martin Altchek, David attended Middletown High School in New York, received his undergraduate degree at Columbia and his medical degree from Cornell University Medical College in 1982. He interned at The New York Hospital and became a resident at HSS, where he had a fellowship under Dr. Russell Warren, HSS's surgeon in chief from 1993-03 and a longtime team physician of the New York Giants. 'My first Tommy John surgery was in 1993, and I did the procedure that Dr. Jobe, Dr. Frank Jobe prescribed,' Altchek said during a 2024 interview with The Associated Press. 'It took 2 1/2 hours and I was exhausted. And I realized then that we had to do something about Tommy John surgery. We had to make it a little bit easier.' Working with residents and fellows, Altchek developed what was called a docking procedure and tested it on about 100 elbows. 'It worked and it worked amazingly well,' Altchek said. 'We really did not change it at all for 20-something years." Altchek estimated last year he had performed more than 2,400 Tommy John surgeries. He was a preferred surgeon for the Tommy John procedure in recent years along with Texas Rangers physician Dr. Keith Meister and Los Angeles Dodgers head team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache. Part of Altchek's job was to reassure a player his baseball career was not over. 'You tell them this is unfortunate, but this is your MRI. This is probably why it happened — meaning you threw outside the envelope of your tissue quality," he explained. "But we have a procedure that can repair your ligament and reconstruct it in a kind of belt, suspenders way that once it heals the likelihood of you going back to pitching at the same level or above is 95%.' Altchek received Columbia's John Jay Award for Distinguished Professional Achievement in 2003. He is survived by his wife, the former Anne Salmson, whom he married in 1981, sons Charles and Christopher, and daughters Chloe and Sophie. Charles is president of Major League Soccer's third-tier MLS Next Pro minor league and was the Ivy League men's soccer player of the year while at Harvard in 2005 and 2006. ___ AP MLB:
