Minnesota Twins: Nick Burdi to Have Tommy John is the Latest Gut Punch
Minnesota Twins prospect Nick Burdi is expected to have Tommy John surgery after tearing his UCL this week, joining three others for the club in 2017.
Nick Burdi will miss the rest of the season due to the injury. The timing could not be worse for Burdi. He was pitching his best yet, currently with a 0.53 ERA and 20 strikeouts in Double-A. He was high on our list as one of the prospects you will see with the Minnesota Twins this year.
The big league team will likely need an arm like Burdi soon too. With Trevor May having the same surgery earlier this year, the bullpen does not have the same shutdown presence it did a year ago.
Granted they have been surprisingly good this year. Tyler Duffey is pitching well and Ryan Pressley has been great recently. Yet, the bullpen feels like a house of cards at times this year. Anybody watch the 12 runs given up by the bullpen to Texas? Burdi was the perfect candidate to help this bullpen get back on track if they are to stumble in the future.
More from Minnesota Twins News
- Minnesota Twins: Grading the Twins’ Joey Gallo signing
- Minnesota Twins: Grading the Christian Vazquez Signing
- Minnesota Twins: Twins jump into Top 5 in first MLB Draft Lottery
- Minnesota Twins: Byron Buxton wins 2022 Bob Feller Act of Valor Award
- Minnesota Twins: A Twins Homage to the Turkey of the Year Award
Hopefully Burdi will be able to make a full and speedy recovery. Any arm injury is scary, especially when you have the velocity that Burdi has. Luckily, with the advances in medicine, Tommy John is more of a set back than a career changer at this point in time. Current players in the system Fernando Romero and Lewis Thorpe are showing with great promise after missing time with the same surgery. Hopefully, Burdi will be a similar success story.
What is in the drinking water?
Nick Burdi’s season ending injury would be disappointing news by itself. Couple that with news with Trevor May being out for the year? Man, that is rough. Wait hold your horses, because 2016 first round pick Alex Kirilloff, and Ryan O’Rourke are both out for the season as well. That’s right, FOUR of the Minnesota Twins players, or top prospects, have been decimated with arm injuries.
How likely is it for a position player to have Tommy John surgery, let alone two (Miguel Sano 2014)? For reference only seven position players since 2008 have had Tommy John that have played in the MLB. Two of which were catchers and that list includes Sano’s surgery in 2014. The Twins are so unfortunate that even their manager, Paul Molitor, is one of the rare position players to have undergone the surgery in 1984.
Next: Ready or Not, the Twins are Here to Stay
Each passing moment it feels that we are on a precipice of losing another prospect to Tommy John Surgery. Someone please find Nick Gordon and make sure he throws underhand to first base for the rest of the season.