Daniel Hudson left his start Tuesday with an injury, and an MRI Wednesday revealed some bad news.

The team's number two pitcher has a 100 percent tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.

The injury, according to D-backs GM Kevin Towers , could lead to Tommy John surgery, which would keep Hudson off the field for 12-18 months.

As disappointing as it is, it appears Hudson's misfortune should not be all that surprising.

Because, as Towers told Arizona Sports 620's Doug and Wolf, Hudson's throwing style always left management a little concerned.

"With any pitcher, especially power-type pitcher, you've always got chances that a UCL could tear or, you know, you could have problems a lot of times with the shoulder as well," Towers said. "He opens up a lot, that we certainly knew there was potential for injury right there.

"It was just a matter of time and when."

Towers said there were likely concerns from then-GM Jerry Dipoto when the team acquired Hudson in 2010, but that at some point you just hope the pitcher is one of those guys who just never suffers a serious injury.

Unfortunately that's not the case, and Hudson's throwing motion notwithstanding, Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci said this could have been predicted. In fact, he did just that back in January, when he wrote Hudson could fall victim to the "Year After Effect."

As Verducci put it then, any pitcher who is under the age of 25 and sees his innings increase by 30 or more from one year to the next instantly becomes a target for injury, loss of life on his fastball, or overall decreased productivity.

Also a guest on Doug and Wolf Wednesday, Verducci explained what he was thinking then.

"If you're a runner, and you want to run a marathon, you wouldn't go from a 5K straight to a marathon," he said. "It's just too much of a workload too quickly.

"That kind of fatigue effect, if you will, can hurt pitchers."

Hudson threw 227.1 innings in 2011 -- including playoffs - after tallying just 188.2 in 2010.

Verducci said the increase rarely an issue during the season in which a pitcher is throwing the extra innings, but that the bill comes in the next season.

And, of the 14 pitchers he had on his "at risk" list going into this season, he said just one does not have a significantly higher ERA or injury.

"Pitchers get hurt," Verducci said. "But it's been proven by the medical people out there the two biggest risks for injury are mechanics and overuse.

"And overuse is something you can really control."

Well, not anymore.