Tanner Houck to Undergo Tommy John Surgery, Will Miss 2025 and 2026 Seasons

It’s time for Breslow to sign Houck to an extension.😆

I guess that explains the implosion. It might have helped, if he had the surgery in May, but such is life.

2027, here we come!

Why would this be a surprise ( and disappointment) to anyone except the Sox medical staff ?  Pitching arm flexor problems almost inevitably wind up this way.  Rest and low intensity rehab does not cure it unless you never plan to pitch again, which is likely for Tanner Houck.

10 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

The least surprising outcome of this season IMO. 

This always makes me wonder if the problem actually occurred, when he showed a sharp decline in performance back in 2024, but it was not identified by our crack(head) medical staff for over a year.

On 8/2/2025 at 4:41 PM, vegasbob said:

Why would this be a surprise ( and disappointment) to anyone except the Sox medical staff ?  Pitching arm flexor problems almost inevitably wind up this way.  Rest and low intensity rehab does not cure it unless you never plan to pitch again, which is likely for Tanner Houck.

I suspect that he’ll be back and pitch better than ever with a rebuilt arm.

On 8/5/2025 at 9:07 AM, Hitch said:

I was listening to a podcast way back with a medical guy that said you'd be surprised how often it isn't obvious they should have the surgery. As in most guys will have small tears in there and carry on pitching just fine without the surgery. It seemed a lot more complicated a decision than perhaps we've been led to believe. 

Pity Jackson wasn't still around (just for the Yanks implosion if nothing else), would be good to get more information on this whole thing. 

I'm sure it's a very complicated decision.  Surgery is invasive.  If I'm a pitcher (even if I'm not), I think I'd opt for non-surgical treatments first to avoid surgery if possible.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  The problem is that if it doesn't work, there are weeks or months of "wasted" time for the player who then has to go through the surgery anyway.

At any rate, I wish Houck a speedy and successful recovery.