Brandon Beachy was leading the league in ERA when he was shut down with an elbow injury in June and underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery.
Yesterday the Braves right-hander threw for the first time since going under the knife, telling Carroll Rogers of the Atlanta Journal Constitution that he “felt giddy, like a little kid” and “it was fun.”
In this case “throwing” means simply playing catch from a distance of about 30 feet, so Beachy is a long way from re-entering the Braves’ plans, but as he said “it’s better than nothing.”
A typical recovery timetable would potentially make him an option for the Braves around midseason, although that’s far from guaranteed even if Kris Medlen’s amazing return from Tommy John surgery has everyone thinking about best-case scenarios.