New York Yankees Pitcher Michael Pineda Chooses Beacon Orthopaedics
July 31, 2017
28-year-old right handed New York Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda is scheduled to undergo Tommy John surgery. Pineda received a second opinion from Cincinnati Reds team medical director Dr. Timothy Kremchek of Beacon Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine. Dr. Kremchek agreed with the first diagnosis and recommended a surgical repair of Pineda’s torn ulnar collateral ligament.
The Yankees pitcher scheduled the surgical repair for Tuesday, August first in Cincinnati, OH at Beacon Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine. He chose to have Dr. Kremchek perform the surgery, since Dr. Kremchek is one of the leading surgeons in the country for that procedure.
Pineda’s seventeenth and last start was against the Toronto Blue Jays on July 5th, where he gave up nine hits and five runs, including three homers. He pitched just three innings that game, before General Manager Brian Cashman realized something was wrong and pulled Pineda from the game.
According to an interview with Cashman, Pineda began complaining of an issue with his elbow only five days prior to his surgery date. It came after Pineda gave up three homers in a loss to the Blue Jays. Yankee’s Manager Joe Girardi recalled that it was not uncommon for Pineda to experience some soreness the day following his starts. This time, the longevity of his pain after his seventeenth start seemed like a cause for caution. Moving Pineda to the disabled list will leave a gaping hole in the Yankee’s pitching rotation.
Yankee’s General Manager Brian Cashman repeated during a press conference on Friday that with two weeks until the trade deadline, he sees himself in the position of a “careful buyer,” rather than a seller. Losing Pineda sets the Yankees back, but Cashman insists that it won’t turn them into sellers.
Upon hearing the diagnosis of a torn ulnar collateral ligament and a flexor strain in his right elbow, Pineda was apparently pretty worked up. He missed the 2012 season due to a right shoulder tear, so the prospect of missing another season at this stage in his career is very daunting.
To read the complete story as written by the Sports Xchange and published on UPI.com, please click here.