My son, Ray, has been pitching since the age of nine. He's played baseball since he was five. He's had consistently good training and was consistent with arm health and care. He literally hasn't had one significant injury in his life. With a longer lean athletic body, he was targeted as a pitcher early on. The projections came true - he's over 6'3" (long legs and good gluteus maximus that he refers to as his "cake", lol) and is about 190 lbs. He just finished high school, still 17-years-old, sitting 88-90 mph fastball, topping 91.
The short story, the mid-April Ray threw a complete game, 7 innings. He had been dominating his high school season. A couple days following that game, he was messing around with friends on a disc golf course, unleashed a frisbee, and felt a pop in his shoulder. It wasn't overly painful, but was uncomfortable and remained so for many days. He was up to pitch again, and pitched a five inning shutout with no walks. However, his velocity was down to the low to mid-eighties, and he couldn't throw a curve ball (due to shoulder instability). Soreness and "popping" followed, and we schedule a trip to the doctor. The MRI showed "a pitcher's worst injury" - a torn labrum. We both cried.
A subsequent trip to St. Louis Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Paletta yielded what we would now view as good news - it was "frayed" and required debridement, vs. the dreaded SLAP tear or other tear requiring a repair. The doctor indicated three months of PT after surgery, followed by one month return to throwing100% - a four month recovery. In his experience, post surgery with debridement, 85% of pitchers return to 100%. Really fantasic news! Of course, it is possible it will look differently when scoped in surgery - in which case he'll fix what he sees and we'll go from there.
The next step is to schedule surgery. And... we have another appointment with Dr. Smith here in Columbia for a second opinion. Dr. Paletta is the orthopedic surgeon for the St. Louis Cardinals. He's been inside many multi-million dollar arms. Dr. Smith comes with great references and is the surgeon rumored to be the go to for Mizzou athletes. Dr. Paletta spoke highly of him and indicated they were very collaborative and familiar with one another - he was supportive of a second opinion and confident Dr. Smith would concur with the diagnosis and treatment plan. If he doesn't, Dr. Paletta said we would then have a decision to make.
In the meantime, weekly updates are to be provided to Ray's college coach. High school graduation was yesterday, May 22, and Ray is due in Florida by August 15. To maintain his scholarship, he has to be fully recovered and ready to play next spring. I wish there was a playbook for this. Anyone know a great PT program for elite pitchers recovering from surgery... and a great recipe for lemonade?
