STARKVILLE – Mississippi State head baseball coach Brian O’Connor shared positive news with the media after a 12-0 win against No. 11 Southern Miss at Dudy Noble Field on Tuesday.
O’Connor shared that starting pitcher Ryan McPherson has a mild forearm strain, suffered in a start against Vanderbilt last Friday. The sophomore ace went in for an MRI scan on Sunday, and the results came back positive with no long-term injury suffered.
When McPherson was first subbed out, it came as a bit of a surprise. Upon review of the tape, he had some discomfort in his throwing arm after his last out in the fourth inning on Friday and turned in after a warm-up pitch to test his strength in the fifth inning.
When pitchers hurt their elbow like that, the first concern is Tommy John surgery, a common treatment to repair the ulnar collateral ligament, but a lengthy recovery process that can take 12 to 18 months.
“First and foremost, I’ll tell you, the ligament in his arm, his UCL, is absolutely pristine,” O’Connor said. “There’s no issues there at all.”
While McPherson’s season isn’t over, the recovery process may still take several weeks. O’Connor did not have answers on when a potential return could be expected, although he ruled out a return against Ole Miss this weekend.
“There is no timetable to it right now,” he added. “We’re still consulting with doctors and stuff, but that is the diagnosis on Ryan McPherson: a mild forearm strain. We’ll figure out in the coming days what we’re looking at from a timetable standpoint. That’s just more protective that he has a brace on, but he’s, we’re all, encouraged by what the results are. Certainly, when you see that happen, you get concerned about somebody’s UCL, and it is not that. We’ll continue to evaluate him and talk to the doctors and figure out long-term what we’re looking at as a timeline.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
