Texas rangers' ace pitcher Yu Darvish's season may end even before it begins. The baseball star has a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his pitching elbow and may need to undergo a season-ending Tommy John Surgery, STL Today reported.
Rangers' surgeon Keith Meister has suggested Darvish to have the surgery, but the baseball star is going to seek a second opinion when he visits Dr. David Altchek, an expert Tommy John surgeon and the Mets' team physician, on March 10 in New York, according to CBS Sports.
"I will be disappointed if I have to miss the season, but I want to look at all my options, including getting a second opinion, before I make a final decision," Darvish said in a statement.
The star pitcher had experienced inflammation in the same elbow and was unavailable in the final seven weeks in the last season. An MRI exam proved to be clean and Darvish took part in workouts and bullpen sessions without any trouble.
Darvish started to feel the tightness in his pitching elbow just before Thursday's game against Kansas City. He threw a total of 12 pitches in the single inning, and then complained about some pain.
Now, Darvish has two options in hand: he may continue pitching with the injury, then rest it for 'half a dozen' weeks and rebuild the stamina, or undergo the season-ending surgery.
The pitcher's injury- news is surely a hard-hitting blow to the Rangers, who already have the dubious distinction of registering a record-setting lead in terms of injuries in 2014 season. The team was also ahead of all other teams in 'time missed' and 'players used' stats.
Texas had 2,281 player days spent on the disabled list; used record-setting 64 players and 40 pitchers, and went for a sport-record of 11 first basemen in 2014.
As far as the current season is concerned, the Rangers purely seem to go in the direction it followed last year. Darvish's misfortune is a proof of that fact.
However, the team has not lost hope.
"It's obviously a bad hop," first-year Rangers manager Jeff Banister said, "but also, through every obstacle there's an opportunity. Let's never lose sight of that."
Can Rangers really take that opportunity to shine in this season?