Nationals right-hander Mason Thompson will undergo Tommy John surgery on Friday, with Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com among those to relay the news. As noted by Zuckerman, this will be the second time the righty will be undergoing the procedure, with the first occurring when he was a high schooler.
A couple of weeks ago, it was reported that Thompson would be shut down due to an elbow injury. At that time, manager Dave Martinez confessed that the team was “a little concerned,” so they likely had some inkling that today’s news was possible.
It’s undoubtedly a frustrating setback for both Thompson and the team. The now-26-year-old came over to the Nationals from the Padres in the 2021 Daniel Hudson trade and now has 106 games of MLB experience under his belt between those two clubs. He has logged 103 1/3 innings, allowing 4.53 earned runs per nine. His 17.7% strikeout rate and 10% walk rate are both subpar, but his 51.1% ground ball rate is quite strong.
The Nats are rebuilding and will likely have plenty of innings available for young pitchers this year, allowing them to continue to develop while showcasing their abilities to the league. Unfortunately, Thompson won’t be able to take advantage of that opportunity. Since Tommy John rehab generally takes over a year, he’ll miss the entire 2024 season and perhaps the early portions of 2025 as well.
The club will have to pivot to other options with Thompson no longer in the mix for this year’s bullpen innings. They have given minor league deals to various veterans such as Derek Law, Matt Barnes, Richard Bleier, Luis Perdomo and Jacob Barnes.
The Nats will likely transfer Thompson to the 60-day injured list once they need his roster spot. If that comes to pass, he’ll spend the whole year there, receiving major league pay and service time. He would cross three years of service in that scenario and qualify for arbitration next winter, though missing the entire year will make him unlikely to receive a substantial raise. The Nats could also designate him for assignment, but injured players can’t be put on outright waivers, meaning he’d have to be put on release waivers. They could then try to re-sign him to a minor league deal but Thompson would be free to explore opportunities with other clubs.
Poor guys MLB career just ended
Tommy John surgeries starting to happen like the first person who leaves a party
Wow. Twice. You have to feel for the guy.
Thoughts and prayers he survives the surgery.
The mortality rate for Tommy John is exceptionally low
He’s 80 years old and going strong
Not 80.. if he were, he would be pitching for my cardinals
You know he meant his career, right? I’m guessing this is rhetorical sarcasm.
He was good for a month last year. Hope he recovers and returns.
Tommy John when he was in high school? Parents must have had a low deductable!
Hope he recovers fast
…and so it begins.
There is ZERO reason for a baseball player to weigh 241 pounds! This is the single biggest reason there are so many blown out arms. You’re dealing with tendons and ligaments. Mass only increases the chance that they blow out. It’s not rocket science. And yet everyone around is about bulking up. It’s just so stupid and obvious.
Back in the day, they forbid us from weight lifting. I know because I got busted. Maybe those old coaches knew something.
Lol.Were you alive during ww2?
That was a lot more recent, 80s. Though I am sure that is ancient to the Twitter generation too.
It’s funny, now they don’t want them to go running. There’s a better way to get in shape?
The more aerobic capacity you have the more you can work at lifting weights. Not max weight, but lighter weights, with more reps.
The more oxygen you can get into your body, the less likely you are to injure it.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some great weight exercises for pitchers, like squats.
Anything that helps the legs helps build stamina. A lot of people don’t realize how much the lower body helps pitchers.
They used to run pitchers to death. Just seems weird now they don’t want them to, especially as most barely go five innings now with all the max effort.
We’re talking about a guy who’s 6’6″ and reasonably athletic if he can pitch his way to the majors. 241 pounds is certainly within the realm of reason for him.