Hard-throwing teens draw scouts, scholarships. More and more, they may also need Tommy John surgery

TEMPE, Ariz. — Most teenagers celebrate their high school graduation with friends, family and maybe a party.

Brandon Compton had Tommy John surgery.

It’s been nearly 50 years since the game-changing procedure — which reconstructs a torn ulnar collateral ligament in a pitcher’s elbow — was first performed by Dr. Frank Jobe on Tommy John’s left arm in 1974. Since then, over 2,200 pros have tried extending their careers with the operation, most of them successfully.

In a more recent development, it’s also helping teenage baseball players — some as young as 14 — get back on the mound after injuries early in their playing careers. Compton was 18 when he had the surgery on May 26, 2022, following his senior season in high school.

“Mentally, it killed me,” Compton said. “And I bet it’s the same for everybody. You’re a young player, you’re going into college at a Power Five program, you’re going to win all the time. That’s not how it worked out.”

But two years later, he’s playing baseball for Arizona State.

Compton’s not alone in his early Tommy John journey. In 2023, there were 23 players selected in the first 10 rounds of the MLB amateur draft who had already had the procedure, one year after a record 31 players in 2022. To compare, just three players fit that description in the 2011 draft.

The relative success and normalcy of the surgery has been a boost for dozens of careers. But why do so many more young players need Tommy John?

“The past 15, 20 years, there’s been a large increase in the number of tears,” said Dr. Braiden Heaps, who works in the Phoenix area. “And they’re getting younger.”

Dr. Gary Waslewski — who works with the Arizona Diamondbacks — said there are a…