Twins right-hander José De León has a torn ligament in his elbow and will require Tommy John surgery, reports Bobby Nightengale of the Star Tribune. As Nightengale points out, this will be the second Tommy John for De León, who also underwent the procedure in 2018.
It’s a very unfortunate blow for De León, 30, who has been repeatedly beset by injuries throughout his career. He was once considered one of the top prospects in the league, with Baseball America putting him in the top 30 of their top 100 list in 2016 and 2017. His first TJS wiped out his 2018 and part of his 2019, then he struggled to get on track in 2020 and 2021. He signed a minor league deal with the Blue Jays last year but was injured in the spring and didn’t pitch in an official game until August.
This year, De León seemed to be on a good track. He joined Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic and tossed 5 2/3 scoreless innings, racking up 10 strikeouts in that time. He then joined Triple-A St. Paul and posted a 3.62 ERA in 27 1/3 innings. That got him back to the big leagues and he had a 4.67 ERA through 17 1/3 innings for the Twins before landing on the injured list yesterday with a strain in his right flexor muscle.
Sadly, his most encouraging performance in years will now be ended prematurely. He will miss the remainder of the 2023 campaign and likely much of the 2024 season as well, given then 14 to 18 months of recovery that are generally needed after TJS.
He will surely be transferred to the 60-day injured list as soon as the Twins require his roster spot and will stay there for the rest of the season, collecting major league pay for the next few months. He will cross three years of service time in the process and be eligible for arbitration this winter, though the club will likely opt for a non-tender with his upcoming absence and uncertain health status.
This is really sad. He knew it happened while he was warming up.
4.67 ERA was his best season ever? How sad.
MLB pitcher much more than alot of people can say- plus good for him for pushing through all these injuries and working his way back every time
Don’t follow the Twins, but it sucks any time someone needs to have a 2nd TJ surgery. Can’t ever remember that not being a career killer basically.
Been a handful that have made it back and had success. Chris Capuano is the first that comes to mind for me, I’m sure others will chime in with names they remember.
Cole Ragans, Eovaldi and Taillon have had 2. deGrom and Walker Buehler are coming back from their second. Daniel Hudson has had 2. I’m sure there are a handful of others.
Walker beuhler will be back from his 2nd in September
Here’s hoping he doesn’t ever have to have a 3rd one like Josh Johnson and Jonny Venters.
Another blow to the Cardinals’ pitching.
Twins.
We need to see if it is too late to get Lance Johnson back
It looked terrible on TV. Best of luck Josè !
In 2016 Jim Callis listed De Leon as the 5th best RH pitching prospect in all of Baseball behind Lucas Giolito, Tyler Glasnow, Alex Reyes and Jose Berrios.
I remember how highly he was regarded. Any mention of trading him made me sick. I always looked out for him when he left Dodgers. I hope he can comeback and get healthy. That’s baseball I guess.
Glad to hear the next Tommy John Surgery has been scheduled. Isn’t it supposed to be 2 or 3 a week? Let’s keep the injury/surgery carousel going in 2023!
To ForDoingNothing, who told me I didn’t know anything about the Twins rotation if I thought they had to be desperate to sign Keuchel, you now stand corrected. However, bringing Keuchel up and putting him in the rotation would be very good news for the rest of the ALC.
De Leon was a middle reliever lol. Twins still have 7 healthy rotation arms outside of Keuchel.
All I can say is, Beware The Ides Of Keuchel!
nobody thinks he’s going to be anything but his first AAA start was good and generated 12 whiffs on 50 pitches. Sure it’s probably a fools errand but there’s not much riding on it
I was watching the game and saw the pitch and you could tell immediately it was his elbow. It did not look good.