Alex Reyes Expected To Have Surgery

The hits keep coming today. After losing Steven Matz and Dylan Carlson to the IL and Yadier Molina to the bereavement list, the Cardinals announced this afternoon that Alex Reyes is expect to have shoulder surgery to repair his labrum. Reyes will me with Dr. Neal ElAttrache to have the shoulder reevaluated according to Jeff Jones. Reyes has not thrown a pitch this season due to his shoulder.

The labrum is the tissue connecting the arm to the shoulder. The surgery will almost guarantee Reyes will miss the season, again. It takes about 6-9 months to fully heal from the surgery depending on the severity of the tear.

I had an 11 to 7 tear of my right labrum a few years ago that required surgery. I had 3 anchors placed into my shoulder to hold the labrum in place. The surgery was in the beginning of August and required physical therapy into October. For a pitchers, a similar injury would mean they wouldn’t be able to start throwing until probably 3-5 months after the surgery, and then they’d face probably 3 more months of building up arm strength.

Unfortunately, a torn labrum is not a sure thing for a pitcher to come back from. Back in 2012, Jay Jaffe of Baseball Prospectus found 58% of pitchers coming back from labrum surgery gave little to no value to their teams after the surgery.

It’s not a complete death sentence. Of the 67 pitchers identified, 11 were able to have decent careers, including Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling, Chris Carpenter, and Jason Isringhausen.

It’s hard to be optimistic for Reyes; the pitcher has had 2 previous injuries to his labrum and Tommy John surgery. The amount of wear and tear on his body probably puts him in the 58%.