Joined: Mar 2008
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Jesse Litch to have Tommy John surgery
6/9/2009 at 6:24 PM
TSN reported today that Blue Jay's starting pitcher Jesse Litch will require Tommy John surgery on his right arm. The report says he'll undergo the surgery on Friday.
Furthering the problems the Jays have with the starting rotation is that Dustin McGowan is recovering much slower from labrum surgery than anticipated last summer. He may not pitch this season at all. After doing some quick research into labrum problems in pitchers, I found an article from 2004 on labrum problems in pitchers. The only name listed that is still pitching is Gil Meche. It claims that in the past 5 years (1999-2004 I presume) only 1 in 36 pitchers return to their former abilities.
Contrasting McGowan is Shawn Marcum, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery much quicker than anticipated. The Blue Jays website says he could return in September. So for the time being it appears it will be Doc Holliday and a rag tag bunch holding the rotation together.