Last month the Phillies allowed right-hander Jonathan Pettibone to put off surgery despite being diagnosed with a partially torn labrum in his shoulder. When questioned about the seemingly odd decision at the time general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. insisted that “a lot of pitchers have these irregularities and pitch through them.”
To which I wrote: “Something tells me I’ll be writing a ‘Jonathan Pettibone to undergo shoulder surgery’ post at some point, but hopefully I’m wrong.”
Well, now Pettibone is having the surgery. Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com reports that Pettibone will undergo “exploratory surgery” to be performed by Dr. James Andrews and “it’s extremely doubtful he will pitch again this season.”
He actually first experienced the shoulder problems last season and has essentially been putting off surgery in favor of rest and rehab since then. And now the 23-year-old with a 4.04 career ERA in 18 starts for the Phillies may not pitch again until mid-2015.
