Report: Second opinion confirms torn UCL for Jose Fernandez
By Hayden Kane
No sooner had Mike Redmond stalled on confirming the bad news for ace starting pitcher Jose Fernandez and we have confirmation of said bad news.
According to Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald, the second opinion from the team doctor confirms the initial diagnosis:
Second doctor on Tuesday confirmed diagnosis of first for J. Fernandez -- torn ulnar collateral ligament -- and surgery prescribed #Marlins
— clarkspencer (@clarkspencer) May 14, 2014
Combined with the report from Jon Heyman earlier today that Fernandez’s UCL tear was “significant,” I think we can all but call it official that baseball is going to lose one of its electric young starting pitchers for the remainder of the season to Tommy John surgery.
With Fernandez going down, we are left to continue to grasp for explanations as to the rash of young pitchers lost to elbow injuries this season. In the case of Miami’s young starter, the team went to great lengths to manage his workload as a rookie in 2013. Generally speaking people seem to attribute the problem to overuse at a young age, well before any of these pitchers are in the hands of Major League clubs.
Whatever the explanation, baseball is worse off when a guy like Fernandez is lost for the season. Hopefully he and his colleagues who have been forced to miss the 2014 season will see successful recoveries and be back out there sometime next year.