David Aardsma’s attempt to come back from elbow problems has stalled, and he will need Tommy John ligament surgery.
Aardma, who saved 31 games for the Mariners last year, seemed on his way to a successful recovery from January surgery on his left hip. However, his elbow began giving him problems this spring during rehab games with the Class AAA Tacoma Rainiers.
An exam in mid-May revealed a Grade 2 sprain of the ulnar collateral ligament, an injury that often results in Tommy John surgery. Aardsma chose to try and avoid surgery and, after a period of rest and therapy, he began throwing a few weeks ago.
He threw 30 pitches off a mound but, in his next throwing session a few days later, stopped after 20 pitches.
Aardsma had a magnetic resonance imaging exam Thursday. Dr. Lewis Yocum will perform the surgery late next week in Los Angeles.
Aardsma, signed through the end of this season, had surgery Jan. 3 to repair a tear in the labrum of his left hip. He rehabbed through the winter and, while he wasn’t expected to begin the season with the team, he expected to return to the closer role at some point when the hip became healthy.
Aardsma made five rehab outings with the Rainiers, allowing eight hits and seven earned runs in four innings, before he was shut down because of elbow pain.
An test revealed the sprained ligament and, after a second exam by Yocum, Aardsma and the Mariners decided against surgery and put together a plan to rest and rehab.
Today, that plan was scrapped. He’ll undergo surgery next week and begin what’s expected to be a year-long recovery before he returns to the mound.
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