Miami Marlins’ Jose Fernandez to undergo Tommy John surgery, out for season
By Josh Hill
The Miami Marlins just can’t catch a break. After their dopey owner made them the laughingstock of baseball with their monstrously over-the-top stadium and record low attendance, the team thought they might be taking a step in a positive direction thanks to ace Jose Fernandez. But just when things were getting excited, the young arm of Fernandez has been shut down as Tommy John surgery will indeed be required to correct his torn UCL.
According to the Sun-Sentinel, Fernandez will head out to Los Angeles to have Tommy John surgery done by the end of the week and will begin his recovery for a return in the 2015 season. This, of course, means that whatever promising start to the 2014 campaign Fernandez was off to has been abruptly ended.
This isn’t the first young pitcher this season to need Tommy John surgery and the numbers in recent years are astronomically high. Young pitchers fall victim to elbow injuries every year and the number continues to grow each season. While it appeared that basketball had an ACL problem a year ago, baseball is in a Tommy John epidemic as elbow injuries are more than simply common place in the sport.
Perhaps it’s that pitcher feel they need to throw harder and faster to beat batters, but no matter the reason, Fernandez is just the latest young pitcher to have his season wiped away due to an elbow injury and his career is now in flux.