Phillies prospect’s career in jeopardy

Philadelphia Phillies’ pitcher Scott Mathieson’s career may be over before it fully gets started. The 24-year old prospect is contemplating a second Tommy John surgery. In the 2006 season, Mathieson made his debut at Citizens Bank Park and just like that Phillies fans had high hopes like Harry Kalas would say. His numbers weren’t outstanding, actually not even that good, but he had moments where the fans thought he could be something special. But now, his career is in jeopardy.

In his 9th major league start of that 2006 season, he went down with an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery. The surgery was performed on Sept 29th, 2006, which should put him on target for a mid-2008 return. Well we’re in the month of May now and he’s no where close to returning. In late March, Mathieson was finally able to begin throwing off a mound but is already experiencing discomfort in the elbow.

One would think, hey you haven’t thrown off a mound in over a year of course you’re going to be sore. But, with surgery already being an option, the doctors and Scott may have already written off the thought of general soreness. If Mathieson does have the second surgery, he’d miss the rest of this year, and the entire 2009 season. That would mean the earliest he would pitch at the Bank again, would be 2010 when he’d be 26-years old. Still young, but also almost 3.5 to 4 years without pitching in a big league game.

Most Phillies fans that I know, have eagerly been waiting for this kid to return this season. They feel he could be a shot in the arm and help stabilize the back-end of the rotation, while being valuable insurance for once Adam Eaton implodes. Unfortunately for those fans, if Mathieson does undergo this second Tommy John surgery, a return to Philadelphia at any point in is pretty unlikely. His career would be pretty much over and he’ll have to purchase tickets like the rest of.

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Tags: MLB, Philadelphia Phillies