Top Prospect To Have TJ Surgery

[love_that_reefer]

Reliever Casey Weathers, the Rockies' No. 1 pick in the 2007 First-Year Player Draft, has suffered a tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow and faces Tommy John ligament replacement surgery.

Weathers suffered the injury during Arizona Fall League play last Thursday, had an MRI on Monday and learned the results of the initial report Tuesday. Marc Gustafson, the Rockies' player development director, said Weathers will consult with the team's doctors before taking the next step, but the surgery is the normal course.

Rehab time from Tommy John surgery would be expected to be 12-15 months, which would eliminate his participation in the 2009 season. Weathers, selected eighth overall out of Vanderbilt, attended his first Major League Spring Training this year, and pitched at Double-A Tulsa, in the Futures Game during All-Star weekend, in the Olympics for Team USA, in instructional ball in Tucson and in the Arizona Fall League.

"You just never know," Gustafson said. "the MRI when he came into the system showed a healthy arm, and it looks like the ligament popped with one pitch. The good news is the success rate for this type of surgery is very high. He's young and he'll be good for many years."

Tough break for one of the Rockies top prospects. He is their future closer and now will have been delayed a year. He had 54 K's in 44.1 IP at AA last year at age 23. Hopefully for the Rockies he can bounce back better than ever.

[henks]

Good news is success rate for this surgery is very high.

This may be true, but Liriano was the perfect case this year that you can't expect instant results similar to the way they performed prior to the injury. Hopefully it all goes well for this guy.

[ljshorty89]

Well, they say that most pitchers nowadays need TJ at some point, so the earlier is probably the better.