Cardinals left-hander Packy Naughton will undergo season-ending surgery on June 26th, with Lynn Worthy of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Joe Trezza of MLB.com relaying word from manager Oli Marmol.
The specific details of Naughton’s surgery aren’t publicly known and it’s possible those details won’t be fully available until the procedure actually begins, but it was reported last week that Tommy John was on the table. Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat adds that Naughton was visiting Dr. Keith Meister, who has performed some internal brace procedures, the TJS alternative that could also be an option.
Either way, it seems likely that Naughton is set to miss significant time. Even in the case of the internal brace procedure, a recovery period of roughly a year is required, which would likely wipe out the first half of Naughton’s 2024 season. The full Tommy John surgery, on the other hand, usually pushes into the range of 14 to 18 months, which could put his entire 2024 season in jeopardy.
That’s surely an extremely frustrating development for both Naughton and the Cards. The southpaw had tossed 32 innings last year with a 4.78 ERA but strong peripherals. He struck out 22% of opponents while walking just 5% and getting grounders at a 49.5% clip. His ERA might have been inflated by a .364 batting average on balls in play, leading to kinder marks from other metrics such as a 3.14 FIP and 3.26 SIERA.
He was looking to build off that platform here in 2023 but landed on the injured list after just four appearances due to a left forearm strain. He seemed on track to return when he began a rehab assignment a week ago but was still experiencing pain, leading to further examination and today’s news about the necessary surgery. That means that 2023 will be an almost entirely lost season with 2024 hanging in the balance as well.
Naughton is already on the 60-day injured list and will stay there for the rest of the season. However, there’s no injured list in the offseason so he will have to be added back to the roster at that point.
Too bad, so sad. Maybe his contract will be done.
Why? He’s not even eligible for arbitration yet, and he’s a better pitcher than at least half of the relievers on the Cardinals’ current active roster.
Even if he were arb-eligible, I’d hate to see him get away like Brebbia did just because the Cardinals didn’t want to pay him a couple million for a season that was going to be missed completely on the IL.
This guy’s name sounds more like a player from the 1920s instead of the 2020s. Cool throwback though.
I’ve known two Irish-American kids from the 70s nicknamed Packy.
Packy is usually a nickname for Patrick among Irish folks (his first name is Patrick). My fourth child would have been named Patrick after a g-g grandfather but was a girl.
Normally short for Patrick, which is the case for Naughton.
It sounds like a good name for the comic strip “Andy CAPP”, if that was still around.
It is still around. Not nearly as popular as it used to be though.
I still love the fries though.
I hear Edward G Robinson’s voice every time Packy Naughton shows up on MLBTR. “I’m gonna trow dis fas’ball right past ya, see?”
Bertie exclaimed: “Packy, my good lad! What the deuce have you gotten yourself into this time?”
Packy Naughton the lineup no more. I’ll show myself out.
Sounds like someone else will have to handle the bootleg liquor business on the north side of town while he recovers.
When Packy’s little brother couldn’t pronounce his name correctly, it came out “Packy” and it stuck.
Where did the 14-18 month figure for TJS come from? It’s always been 12-18 months, and a lot of cases fall on the short end of that range. If it weren’t for the offseason pushing back many of the timetables, it might actually be more common for it to be under 14 months than over it.
If the Cardinals are great at one thing, it is letting pitchers try to wish and pray for their arms to magically heal before the inevitable surgery 6 months later. This coming from a Cardinals fan.
So much work they put in developing him.
All for Naughton
.
Bet his most used pitch wasn’t a fastball