Mets left-handed relief prospect Nate Lavender underwent a “variation of Tommy John surgery” with an internal brace added to his elbow ligament and will miss the remainder of the 2024 season, president of baseball operations David Stearns announced yesterday (X link via Tim Britton of The Athletic).
It’s a tough blow for the Mets and for Lavender, who had a strong chance to make his big league debut this season. The 24-year-old southpaw was the Mets’ 14th-round pick in 2021 but has elevated his stock and pitched quite well in the upper minors.
Last year, Lavender breezed through a brief seven-game look in Double-A — his only career action at that level — allowing just two earned runs while posting a 19-to-3 K/BB ratio in 10 1/3 frames. He quickly moved up to Triple-A Syracuse, where he tossed 44 innings of 3.27 ERA ball with a huge 35.1% strikeout rate, albeit against a 12% walk rate. He opened the ’24 campaign with another seven frames and only three runs allowed in Syracuse, although this year’s 20.6% walk rate in that small sample raised some red flags in the run-up to his placement on the injured list.
In writing up the Mets’ nearly MLB-ready prospects, FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen credited Lavender with one of the most deceptive deliveries in all of Minor League Baseball. Longenhagen added that even though Lavender doesn’t throw particularly hard (91 mph average fastball), his heater is so difficult for hitters to track that it alone gives him the potential to be a big league reliever, despite less-impressive secondary offerings and below-average command.
Lavender doesn’t turn 25 until January, so he still has plenty of prime years ahead of him. If he can get back to his 2023-24 form, he’ll again be a candidate to make his big league debut at some point next summer. Lavender isn’t on the Mets’ 40-man roster but would be Rule 5-eligible this coming offseason.
TJS, or the internal brace procedure (IBP for short?), or both. I’d love to read what the decision process, pros and cons, for opting for one of the three. I’ve yet to see a definitive article on the topic.
All I know is IBP, abbreviation is better, is one year, versus 14-16 months for TJS.
There are a couple of scholarly articles on the NIH website including one on internal brace alone from 2021 (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8541765/) and one from last July on the combined surgery (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10391346/). They aren’t the most accessible to lay people, but I think they are interesting for us here nonetheless. There is apparently more history of internal brace being used for thumb, ankle, and knee ligament injuries. Until I tried to limit the search to scholarly articles, most results were clinics offering it for chronic ankle sprains
Perhaps some lavender will help accelerate the healing process.
There are many pitchers that have had Tommy John surgery multiple times. Remember reading that Tommy john surgery has a shelf life where wear and tear eventually requires additional procedures. How many pitchers that underwent internal brace procedure need another procedure/surgery?
Look no farther than Shoei Ohtani who just had his second. The Cubs even had someone who had 3 although his name escapes me. There have been a lot of P’s who have had more than 1.
Seems like eventually they will create some kind of synthetic material to replace ligaments with. Then, BAM! Elbows are indestructible and guys can start throwing really hard.
Eovaldi is another one.
Quick Google brought up an interesting MLB.com article: mlb.com/news/pitchers-to-have-tommy-john-surgery-t… and there probably is more. I forget what people used to say about how long the surgery would be good for.
Johnny Venters is the player who had 3
i think degrom is on his 2nd as well as i believe he had one in the minors and now this one.
I had TJ surgery when I was 50. the Dr. told me if I had it when I was younger,it would last longer than the 10 years he told me it was good for. my athletic activities are not what they were back then so I’ll see how long it lasts.
Ok now they’re just making pitchers up saying they’re getting Tommy John.
Are the mets really under 500 with a 300 million dollar payroll
they are but they also have a ton of flexibility as next offseason half that payroll is gone with really starting pitching and alonso being the issues to replace. For right now atleast the pitching market will be better than in prior years.
They also should have atleast one or two prospect hopefully help position wise and and improve the lineup some.
That stinks, he was exciting to watch in spring training
One of the most bamboozling arms I’ve seen.
Guys simply couldn’t touch his 90mph heater.
Hope he gets back at it soon.
Several years ago, some pitchers with UCL injuries were having a “primary repair” surgery as an alternative to TJS. Is that still a thing, or has it evolved into the internal brace procedure?
My understanding is that “primary repair” is where the existing UCL is surgically repaired. Tommy John surgery (aka the Jobe technique) is, of course, where the UCL is replaced by a tendon. Internal brace can be added to either procedure and, I am fairly certain, performed on its own to support/strengthened a damaged UCL that is healing, probably with platelet-rich plasma treatment. We really need an orthopedist to explain all this just as
Good luck kid. Hope to see you soon.
Back to Lavender town he goes.
Lavender’s blue. Dilly,dilly.