Another day, another Braves pitcher headed for Tommy John elbow surgery. This time it’s reliever Cory Gearrin, who has decided to go under the knife after getting three different opinions that confirmed his torn ulnar collateral ligament.
Gearrin suffered the injury late in spring training, although it’s hard not to trace his problems back to being worked extremely hard by manager Fredi Gonzalez early last season. At one point Gonzalez used Gearrin eight times in a ten-game span and the side-arming right-hander missed the whole second half with shoulder problems.
It’s a shame, because at age 28 he was finally ready to take on a full-time bullpen role after dominating at Triple-A for three seasons. And now he’ll miss the rest of this season and likely part of 2015 after joining teammates Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy in needing Tommy John surgery.
