© Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
The Atlanta Braves are going to lack their star pitcher for a minimum of the rest of 2024
The Atlanta Braves validated today that star pitcher Spencer Strider had plastic surgery on his ulnar security ligament in his ideal elbow and will miss out on the rest of the 2024 season.
This is Strider’s 2nd UCL restoration – he formerly had actually the treatment carried out in 2019 while at Clemson University.
The surgical treatment was carried out on Friday by Dr. Keith Meister in Dallas, TX, who frequently does Atlanta’s elbow surgical treatments for their pitchers. Meister, who is the group doctor for the Texas Rangers, is the brand-new go-to cosmetic surgeon for elbow treatments with the retirement of famous cosmetic surgeon Dr. James Andrews in January of this year. Meister’s carried out surgical treatments on star pitchers Sandy Alcantara, Shane McClanahan, and Jacob deGrom in the in 2015 and did the Tommy John surgical treatments for present Braves pitchers Ian Anderson, Tyler Matzek, and Huascar Ynoa, along with possibility Blake Burkhalter and previous Braves pitcher and existing San Francisco Giants reducer Luke Jackson.
Atlanta validated that the surgical alternative done was the “internal brace” technique that’s increased to appeal in the last few years, would might possibly have a much shorter healing time and (theretically) will offer extra assistance to the arm once the pitcher go back to play.
RHP Spencer Strider the other day went through surgical treatment to fix the ulnar security ligament in his ideal elbow with internal brace, carried out by Dr. Keith Meister in Arlington, TX. He will miss out on the rest of the 2024 season.
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) April 13, 2024
In a standard UCL restoration, a donor tendon – originating from either the client’s lower arm or leg or from a cadaver – is stitched into the elbow joint and weaved in a figure-eight pattern. The tendon heals and the pitcher go back to action in fourteen to eighteen months, depending upon how the rehabilitation advances.
The internal brace treatment, which is a more recent option that’s ended up being extensively embraced recently, has actually been done on a number of significant leaguers consisting of Shohei Ohtani for his 2nd UCL injury and Lucas Giolito for his 2nd. After the UCL is fixed, a tape-like stitch is anchored into the humerus (the upper bone of the arm) and ulna (the lower arm), which stays in location after the professional athlete go back to play. It will supply extra stability to the structure of the joint moving forward, generally (however not constantly) permitting a quicker go back to play.
While complete go back to play after a 2nd Tommy John surgical treatment are substantially less typical, there are some noteworthy MLB success stories like Texas Rangers pitcher Nathan Eovaldi and previous Braves reducer Jonny Venters, who had 3 Tommy John surgical treatments and still went back to MLB.