Will Frankie Montas be able to return next season after Tommy John? | The Injury Report - video Dailymotion

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00:00This is the Injury Report, presented by NYU Langone Health.

00:05UCL injuries have become one of the most talked about topics in baseball,

00:08and a report swirling about the possibility of Tommy John surgery

00:12from Mets pitcher Frankie Montas.

00:13We want to dig into what this really means.

00:16So joining me now on Injury Report is Dr. Michael Alea,

00:19orthopedic surgeon and specialist in sports medicine at NYU Langone,

00:23here with us now.

00:25Doctor, how's it going?

00:26I'm great. How you doing, Dex?

00:28I'm doing good, man. I'm doing good.

00:30Let's get into this right now.

00:32First things first, what exactly is the UCL for people who don't know,

00:35and why is it so critical for a pitcher like Frankie Montas?

00:39So the UCL stands for the ulnar collateral ligament,

00:43and essentially what that is, it's a ligament or a piece of tissue

00:47that connects one bone to another bone,

00:48and it lives on the medial side of the elbow right here.

00:52It kind of goes from the humerus bone to the ulnar bone right there.

00:55And what that ligament does is it keeps the joint stable during a range of motion,

01:02particularly when a pitcher is going into the late cocking phase of their pitch.

01:06So, or a thrower or any kind of overhead athlete,

01:09when they come all the way back like this and put all that torque on their elbow,

01:15that ligament is keeping everything together.

01:17It keeps the ulna locked on to the humerus as they're coming through a range of motion

01:22and coming in over the top.

01:23So, that ligament is unfortunately critical for a pitcher to have velocity,

01:29to have stability, to have accuracy.

01:32As time goes on, a lot of pitchers develop attenuation or damage to that ligament,

01:37and over time in Frankie Montas' situation, it could tear,

01:42and that tear could lead to problems.

01:44Last thing for me, Doc, from your perspective as a medical professional,

01:48assuming that Montas undergoes Tommy John, let's say, in like early September,

01:53what are realistic expectations where he'll be physically ready for opening day in 2027?

02:00So, I think a lot of it depends on the rehabilitation and how he feels.

02:04You know, after the surgery, we've got to work on inflammation,

02:07make sure the inflammation goes away pretty quickly,

02:09and then range of motion, then finally strength and mechanics and pitching.

02:13And that sequence takes close to nine months to a year.

02:15So, if he has the procedure in September, assuming it goes well,

02:19which almost always it does,

02:21it would be tough if he had it in September to come back in April.

02:25I'd probably say more along the lines of anywhere between July and October.

02:29Preferentially, he'd be ready to play.

Will Frankie Montas be able to return next season after Tommy John? | The Injury Report

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