St. Louis Cardinals closer Jordan Hicks to have Tommy John surgery.

Jordan Hicks is scheduled to undergo Tommy John surgery this morning and Carlos Martinez will become the St. Louis Cardinals’ closer, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said Tuesday.

Mozeliak said the decision on Martinez was made in consultation with Manager Mike Shildt.

“Needless to say it’s very disappointing,” Mozeliak said. “He obviously was taking over that closer role and certainly will be missed. The next question is who’s going to do it, and in talking with Shildty, the comfort level is to go with Carlos Martinez. The good news is we have some depth there.”

Mozeliak said Hicks was seeking a second and third opinion Monday when the announcement was made that he has a torn ulnar collateral ligament. After receiving those opinions, the decision was made to schedule surgery.

Dr. George Paletta will perform the surgery.

“I wasn’t surprised, no,” said the 22-year-old Hicks on Tuesday afternoon about the torn ligament diagnosis. “It just felt different.”

He said he had felt that something different in the last four pitches he threw to the Los Angeles Angels’ David Fletcher, whom he struck out Saturday.

“I just wanted to get through that guy,” said Hicks, who then was removed from the game after catcher Yadier Molina noticed Hicks flexing his arm above his head and expressed concern to the dugout.

After the game, Shildt said that he had been told Hicks had passed all the early tests but Hicks said, “The tests were probably negative because my adrenaline was pretty high.”

Martinez had the closer role briefly in 2018 and recorded five saves. This season he has worked exclusively out of the bullpen in 13 appearances since returning from an injury and is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA with 2 saves.