Early last year, Athletics right-hander Jarrod Parker tore his ulnar collateral ligament for the second time and needed his second career Tommy John surgery. He had the first procedure back in October 2009, when he was still in the minors.
Parker's rehab from his second elbow reconstruction had gone very well up until Friday night. In his latest minor league rehab start, Parker suffered a scary looking elbow injury while throwing his 87th pitch of the night. Here's the video. It's not gory but it is a bit unsettling:
Ugh. That's horrible. Parker will see a doctor according to MLB.com's Jane Lee. There has not yet been any sort of update from the A's. Hopefully this is nothing more than a really bad cramp or scar tissue breaking up and not something more serious.
In early 2013, John Lackey left his first start following Tommy John surgery with a similar scary looking injury, but it turned out to be nothing more than a biceps strain, and he was back in action after missing just two starts. Hopefully Parker is dealing with something similar and not anything more serious.
Tommy John surgery has a fairly high success rate, but only the first time around. The second Tommy John surgery comes with much more risk and is not nearly as successful. Chris Capuano is the most notable big leaguer who has been able to stay healthy for an extended period of time after two Tommy Johns.
Parker, 26, went 25-16 with a 3.73 ERA (104 ERA+) in 61 starts and 378 1/3 total innings for Oakland from 2012-13, his only two full healthy seasons as a big leaguer.
