Jordan Hicks

MAY 10: The second opinion has apparently pushed back Hicks’ potential recovery timeline. The righty will undergo an orthobiologic injection this week, Mozeliak tells Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He’ll be reevaluated in six weeks.

The six-week shutdown from baseball activities means Hicks is now looking at a months-long absence. Even if he’ll is able to resume throwing after six weeks, he’ll need time to build back arm strength during a throwing program and eventual minor-league rehab assignment. As Hummel notes, that makes it difficult to envision Hicks returns before the July 12-15 All-Star break, even if he avoids any setbacks in his rehab. Given that timetable, it seems likely the Cardinals will transfer Hicks to the 60-day injured list if the need for an extra 40-man roster spot emerges in the coming weeks.

MAY 4, 4:27pm: The Cardinals will seek a second opinion on Hicks’ elbow, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak told Silver and other reporters. Hicks is more likely to need an injection than surgery, though an injection would still require an absence of four-plus weeks, Silver relays.

MAY 4, 3:43pm: There is going to be “a pause” for Hicks, according to manager Mike Shildt, who added it’s “going to take some time” (via Silver, on Twitter). Based on that, it appears Hicks will miss more than the minimum of 10 days.

MAY 4, 3:08pm: The Cardinals have placed right-handed reliever Jordan Hicks on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to May 2) with inflammation in his pitching elbow, per Zachary Silver of MLB.com. They recalled righty Johan Oviedo in a corresponding move.

It was expected that Hicks would go on the IL when he had to exit his appearance early Saturday, though an elbow ailment is nonetheless unsettling for a past Tommy John surgery patient. The hard-throwing Hicks has pitched in the majors this year for the first time since he had the procedure in June 2019 (the Type 1 diabetic opted out of last season over COVID-19 concerns).

When he went under the knife, Hicks was the Cardinals’ closer – an effective one at that – but they’ve eased him back into action this year in a lesser role. Hicks has gotten off to a slow start, which is to be expected for someone coming back from TJ surgery, having allowed six earned runs on five hits and 10 walks (with 10 strikeouts) across 10 innings. While Hicks has continued to show off elite velocity with an average fastball of 99.3 mph, he has already uncorked three wild pitches.

It’s unclear exactly how long the Cardinals will go without Hicks, but they seem optimistic this won’t turn into a worst-case scenario. The club is of the belief that the discomfort Hicks is dealing with is common for someone returning from Tommy John, Silver writes.

9:56PM: Hicks was experiencing soreness and inflammation in his elbow, manager Mike Shildt told MLB.com’s Ryan Herrera and other reporters.

9:28PM: Cardinals right-hander Jordan Hicks left tonight’s game due to what the team described as “right arm tightness.”  Hicks began the seventh inning and allowed a hit over two-thirds of an inning before leaving the game.  As per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch via Twitter, “Hicks had a noticeable wince and flex of the arm” after tossing his final pitch.

The Cards’ announcement specified that Hicks was removed for precautionary reasons, though that preliminary diagnosis of arm tightness is certainly cause for concern given Hicks’ injury history.  The righty underwent Tommy John surgery in June 2019 and didn’t pitch at all in 2020 — he opted out of the season due to COVID concerns as a sufferer of Type 1 diabetes, and Hicks’ rehab may have kept from returning to the mound altogether before the regular season was out.

St. Louis hasn’t rushed Hicks back by any stretch, limiting him to middle relief outings and set-up duty rather than save situations.  To date, Hicks also hasn’t pitched on consecutive days.

It’s been something of a mixed bag for Hicks in the 10 innings pitched since his long layoff.  He has a 5.40 ERA/5.91 SIERA that can be largely attributed to a tough outing against the Reds on April 23, as Hicks has a 2.79 ERA over his other nine appearances.  Hicks has thus far been among the best in the game at limiting hard contact, and Hicks has technically lost a bit of velocity by his high standards, but it’s probably fair to say that he isn’t exactly in decline with “only” a 99.4mph average fastball after averaging in the triple digits in the 2018-19 seasons.  On the downside, Hicks’ his 24.4% strikeout rate is almost exactly league average, and he has as many walks (10) as strikeouts.

Cardinals closer Jordan Hicks threw a pair of 20-pitch sets in a bullpen session at his home in Houston on Tuesday, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak tells Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. It’s the latest positive step in the rehab process for the flamethrowing Hicks, who underwent Tommy John surgery late last June.

The Cards aren’t putting a firm deadline on Hicks’ readiness to pitch in a big league game, but Mozeliak spoke in broad terms when he expressed “optimism that if we do have a season, he’ll have some way of being a key member of it.”

Under normal circumstances, the Cards would’ve been without Hicks for at least half the season, given the June 26 date of last year’s surgery. Now, with the season beginning no earlier than July 1 — and quite possibly later, depending on the input of government officials and health experts — Hicks could be in the ’pen for the majority of the shortened season. The right-hander is a Type 1 diabetic but recently expressed to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic that his condition wouldn’t impact his willingness to play in 2020 amid coronavirus concerns.

Hicks, 23, is the hardest-throwing pitcher in baseball, averaging an outrageous 101.5 mph on a sinker that helped him post a gaudy 67.2 percent ground-ball rate in 2019. The right-hander quickly ascended to the role of closer in St. Louis and had collected 14 saves while pitching to a 3.14 ERA, 9.7 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in 28 2/3 innings last year. Hicks made notable improvements in his ability to locate that blistering sinker last year, dropping his walk rate from a 5.2 BB/9 and 13.3 percent overall mark in 2018 to that 3.5 BB/9 and a 10 percent overall mark in 2019. His first-pitch strike rate jumped from 58.2 percent to 60.9 percent as well.

Hicks will be eligible for salary arbitration for the first time this winter and currently carries a 3.47 ERA, 20 saves and a 101-to-56 K/BB ratio in 106 1/3 career innings. He’s under club control through the 2023 season.