Braves reliever Cory Gearrin likely needs Tommy John surgery after being diagnosed with a partial ligament tear in his right elbow, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman reports. Gearrin, though, will seek a second opinion before making a decision.
Gearrin injured his elbow in the last week of spring training. He didn’t have a particularly productive spring, finishing with a 6.35 ERA in 11 1/3 innings. Gearrin, who turns 28 on April 14, has posted decent numbers at Triple-A over the last three seasons and was slightly above average at the big league level in 31 innings compiled in the first half of last season with the Braves.
Gearrin wasn’t high up on the bullpen depth chart, but he is just the latest in a long line of Braves pitchers to succumb to the injury bug. He joins Brandon Beachy, Gavin Floyd, Kris Medlen, Mike Minor, and Jonny Venters on the shelf.
Announcement: Hardball Talk’s partner FanDuel is hosting a one-day $40,000 Fantasy Baseball league for Friday night’s MLB games. It’s $25 to join and first prize is $6,000. Starts at 7:05pm ET on Friday. Here’s the FanDuel link.