McCullers put off surgery for postseason
CARLSBAD, Calif. — Doctors informed Lance McCullers Jr. he needed Tommy John surgery in August, but the Astros pitcher put it off for two months after renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache told him “you can throw an inning.”
“You’re not going to want to throw the second inning because it’s going to hurt that bad,” ElAttrache told McCullers, according to Scott Boras.
“But when Lance knew he could throw an inning,” Boras said, “he went to (general manager Jeff Luhnow) and told the staff, ‘I want to be a part of that. I want to do it.’ ”
Boras, the mega agent who represents McCullers along with Houston starter Gerrit Cole and free agent Dallas Keuchel, credited the Astros for an “excellent job” managing McCullers during the postseason. McCullers first suffered a forearm muscle strain during his Aug. 4 start against the Dodgers, and Boras and Luhnow reiterated Wednesday at the annual general manager meetings that he could not have injured himself further while pitching in the postseason. Tommy John surgery was inevitable.
“(McCullers) was very willing and capable to give us innings, and it wouldn’t change the outcome. That’s why we went down that path,” Luhnow said Wednesday. “If he wasn’t a weapon, we wouldn’t have put him on (the playoff rosters).”
The 25-year-old righthander appeared in five postseason games. His only outing longer than an inning was in Game 5 of the AL Championship Series— the 8-6 loss to Boston that ended Houston’s season.
“Dr ElAttrache said you just have to respond to the pain threshold when it comes up and don’t pursue it beyond that,” Boras said. “The Astros were aware of it, and they did a good job of keeping his innings low, and they really allowed him to fulfill the expectation he wanted.”
McCullers underwent surgery on Tuesday to repair his ulnar collateral ligament. The team expects him to make a full recovery and be ready for the 2020 season.