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Parker Will Have Tommy John Surgery

Posted Oct. 22, 2009 4:37 pm by Will Lingo
Filed under: Training Room

Diamondbacks pitching prospect Jarrod Parker is going to have Tommy John surgery, after going down in the middle of the season with elbow trouble.

Arizona shut down the righthander, the organization’s top prospect, with elbow tightness in late July when he was pitching at Double-A Mobile, and hoped rest and rehab would fix the problem. During instructional league he played catch at 120 feet, and he was scheduled to resume throwing off a mound in January.

But Parker’s agent broke the news on Thursday afternoon that he planned to have Tommy John surgery next week, and the Diamondbacks confirmed it later in the day.

Diamondbacks farm director Mike Berger said Parker is scheduled to have the surgery Oct. 28 in Birmingham, to be performed by Dr. James Andrews. While it will keep Parker out of action for most, if not all of the 2010 season, the recovery rate from Tommy John surgery is good.

"I’m not going to lose any sleep over this, if you know what I mean," Berger told Baseball America’s Matt Forman. "We’re pulling for him."

Parker, 20, went a combined 5-6, 3.14 in 20 starts between high Class A Visalia and Mobile this season. He was on the disabled list twice this season: from June 14-24 with a right wrist bruise and from Aug. 17 through the remainder of the season with right elbow inflammation.

On Thursday, his agent Larry Reynolds wrote on his Twitter feed: "Dbacks #1 prospect Jarrod Parker to visit Dr. James Andrews on Tue w/ intent of having Tommy John surgery on 10/28".

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 4:37 pm by Will Lingo and is filed under Training Room. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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7 Comments

What kind of damage does this do to his D-Backs prospect status? Still a top-10?

Posted by MJ | October 23, 2009 at 10:29 am | Shortcut

And speaking of injuries…what’s the most recent status on Jason Heyward? He’s missed 5 straight games…and that can’t be because of just a “sore leg.” Did he tear a hamstring, or something? I heard that may have been the case? Any validity to that? How concerned should we be about him being fragile at this stage?

Posted by MJ | October 23, 2009 at 2:19 pm | Shortcut

mj, don’t panic about Heyward yet. A pulled hamstring (that’s what he has, which qualifies as a “sore leg” but is more expicit as to why it’s sore) can keep a player sidelined for several days or even a couple of weeks. No need to be all gloom and doom about it being torn.

Posted by geo | October 23, 2009 at 3:02 pm | Shortcut

MJ, it’s not a deep farm system. I’d still consider him their No. 1 prospect personally because I like the track record of Tommy John surgery and Parker’s stuff when he was healthy. He has some wiggle room, his stuff was that good. If he loses a grade, even across the board, he’s still got two plus pitches. But we have work to do to report it for the Handbook, but he could pull an Erik Bedard from back when he was with the Orioles and ranked No. 1 even after having TJ.

Posted by John Manuel | October 23, 2009 at 3:37 pm | Shortcut

I sure hope to see Parker toeing the rubber for the D-Backs sometime in 2012 then!

Posted by MJ | October 23, 2009 at 5:59 pm | Shortcut

Okay, last question about Heyward–why did the Braves send him to the AFL anyway, if every time he comes up with some kind of tweak, they bench him out of “precautionary measures?” Why not just send him to instructs, where it’s more relaxed, less pressure, and he can still work on his game? It seems kind of wasteful if he’s getting minimal game action in the AFL, and not doing much riding the pine. To me, a 20-year old built like he is, with all his injuries thus far, albeit none serious, puts up a bit of a red flag. Agree or am I being too harsh?
Thanks for your comments, BA!

Posted by MJ | October 23, 2009 at 6:04 pm | Shortcut

I actually think the injuries are the only red flag on Jason Heyward right now. I don’t fault the Braves for sending him to the AFL though, and there’s talk he’ll still play winter ball. The Braves clearly want to get him ready for 2010, which I suppose should tell us what they think of Jordan Schafer but more what they think of Heyward. They hae plenty of room in their lineup for an impact corner bat.

Posted by John Manuel | October 28, 2009 at 7:45 pm | Shortcut

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