Tigers get the worst news

Detroit Tigers pitcher Casey Mize, a former top pick and No. 1 overall pick, will have Tommy John surgery.

Three weeks ago, AJ Hinch attempted to call a fanbase who rightly faltered after seeing nearly the entire pitching staff fall to the ground with injuries. By this time, Mize had suffered a setback herself during a rehab start and was sent back to Lakeland. Hinch refused to refer to it in specific terms, but acknowledged it wasn’t ideal.

“We’ll slow him down a bit.” said Hinch. “We treat the symptoms. He still doesn’t feel like he can go full throttle in bullpens or in competitions so we need to dial it back a bit.

On Friday, the Tigers announced that Mize would undergo Tommy John surgery, essentially the worst result for a pitcher of his caliber. Mize will miss much of the next full calendar year, if not more.

Casey Mize injury update: Tommy John’s surgery is due

Tommy John’s surgery is actually quite simple in modern medicine. Per the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, “UCL reconstruction is an operation commonly used to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in the elbow by replacing it with a tendon from elsewhere in the body. The goal of the surgery is to stabilize the elbow, reduce or eliminate pain, and restore stability and range of motion.”

For pitchers, however, it may represent something very different. Not only must pitchers go through the normal rehab process that comes with Tommy John, they must also be able to apply excessive force to that elbow after the fact. Some pitchers come back better than ever, while others are never the same.

Fortunately, Mize is young enough to make a full recovery. He remains an integral part of the Tigers’ future.