Matt Wieters To Have Tommy John Surgery, Out For Rest Of The Season

MLB-  The Orioles officially lost All-Star catcher Matt Wieters for the season on Monday, with the news that he will undergo Tommy John surgery on his right elbow on Tuesday. The procedure, to be performed by Dr. James Andrews in his Gulf Breeze, Fla., office, has a nine-month recovery timetable. Wieters — who was on the disabled list for just the second time in his career — last played on May 10 and last caught on May 4. After five weeks of trying a throwing progression, Wieters was still experiencing discomfort and requested a follow-up with Andrews last week. An MRI on Monday morning showed that Wieters’ elbow was actually a little worse than during his initial visit, prompting the decision to go ahead with surgery. The original thought was that Wieters could just hit, but that would have sidelined him as a catching option for all of next season. Wieters hit .308 with five homers and 18 RBIs in 26 games, and was a quiet leader in the clubhouse.
 

Well there you go, the bad news all Orioles fans have been dreading. Gold glove catcher Matt Wieters is done for the year, as he will undergo Tommy John surgery on his throwing elbow today. Recovery is around nine months which means he should be good to go around the beginning of spring training. Still the leading vote getter for catchers in the All-Star game, Wieters will start the beginning stages of rehab in Atlanta.

Wieters hasn’t played in over a month and originally hoped to avoid surgery by healing the injury by resting, but after a recent throwing session he still had soreness in his right elbow. A July 1st deadline had been given to the catcher where if he wasn’t good to go by then, surgery would have to take place.

Hate to see this happen to a guy having a career year. The Birds are a lot better team with him in the lineup- 16-10 with him starting, 17-23 when he doesn’t. Only a handful of catchers call a better game from behind the plate than Wieters does, and he was finally coming around offensively like we’ve been hoping he would.

Wieters surgery could force the Orioles to be active at the trade deadline and attempt to acquire another catcher because right now Nick Hundley (.226 average this year) and Caleb Joseph (.123) aren’t getting the job done. Another option is Steve Clevenger, who is down in the minors but has shown sparks that he can play at the big league level.

Wieters is a free agent at the end of next year, so it will be interesting to see how this injury plays into his contract situation. . Will this drop his price tag? With Scott Boras as his agent maybe not, but hopefully this injury will help them keep him for a good price.

Good luck in recovery Matt, see you next year.

 

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