In theaters now is “Million Dollar Arm,” Disney’s version of Rinku Singh and Dinesh Kumar Patel’s unlikely journey from game show winners in India to minor league pitchers in the United States. Jerry Crasnick of ESPN has their story.
Along the way, Crasnick tells us that, though their major league baseball dreams didn’t materialize, one of them did get to experience something many, many major league pitchers have lately: Tommy John surgery for Singh:
Last summer, Singh experienced another ritual that’s become increasingly more commonplace among young American and Latino males in his new profession: He underwent Tommy John surgery on his left elbow. Like Matt Harvey, Jose Fernandez and so many other All-Stars/household names, Singh is dealing with the emotional and physical fallout of an ulnar collateral ligament tear. He’ll spend this summer rehabbing in an effort to return to the playing field in 2015.
In this case, I do not think we can realistically look at the subject being overworked in highly-competitive youth traveling leagues as the culprit.
