NEW YORK — Tommy John surgery, like baseball itself, is evolving to increase success and sometimes speed return.
Dr. Jeffrey R. Dugas developed a procedure that cut recovery time to as little as nine months for some pitchers with torn elbow ligaments. He envisions more innovations within five-to-seven years.
“We’re going to add new levels of biologic manipulation, whether it’s collagen or stem cells or things like that,” said Dugas, who worked with Dr. James Andrews. “We will be able to enhance all of these things and potentially make them go a little faster or heal more reliably.”
In the 50 years since Dr. Frank Jobe ‘s first Tommy John surgery, the operation has saved careers and earned fortunes. Los Angeles Dodgers head team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache estimates 80% of pitchers return to their prior performance level.
Tommy John surgery has been performed on pro baseball players more than 2,400 times, according to data collected by baseball researcher Jon Roegele. More than half of those operations have come in the last 10 years.
“Right now, we’re trying to do whatever we can to respond to the the massive increases in demand on this ligament,” ElAttrache said. “Velocity is the main killer. But right there with it and maybe even rivaling velocity as the killer of the elbow is the new emphasis on spin rate because, as the as the fastball velocity has gone up, the pitch that fools these world-class hitters is the offspeed pitch.”
Zack Wheeler had Tommy John surgery with New York Mets medical director Dr. David Altchek in 2015 and returned two years later. He has gone 69-47 since, becoming a Philadelphia Phillies ace and signing $254 million in contracts.
“Supposedly, it’s only supposed to last seven years. You always have that in the back of your mind,” Wheeler said. “But at the same time, you can’t really worry about it. You just got to go out and throw.”
Tommy John had the first ulnar collateral ligament replacement surgery, a…
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