Report: Bronson Arroyo has torn UCL, will need Tommy John surgery

Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo will need season-ending Tommy John surgery due to a torn UCL, it was announced Monday.

Arroyo was 7-4 this season with a 4.08 ERA in 86 innings in his first season with the D-backs, but went on the 15-day DL on June 16 with what was being described as elbow tendinitis.

The 37-year-old Arroyo, who signed a three-year contract with the D-backs prior to the season, threw a complete game against the Washington Nationals on May 13, and he believes the injury was suffered that night.

“He’s just made the decision to go the conventional way and get it fixed,” D-backs manager Kirk Gibson said Monday afternoon. “The longer you wait, the longer you get really into the end of next year.”

Arroyo continued to pitch for another month, and was rather effective, but at some point the pain became too much for him to keep going.

“We had a discussion with him before his last start and he was pretty adamant about continuing to pitch, he thought he could get through it but that last game really hurt him,” Gibson said. “That’s when we shut him down and got the MRI and we took this course. It seems that surgery is the only way to go now.”

The veteran of 15 big league seasons owns a 145-131 record with a 4.19 ERA in 2,364.2 innings, having pitched for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Red Sox, Cincinnati Reds and the D-backs.

#Dbacks Bronson Arroyo says he is determined to come back and pitch another couple of years.

— Steve Gilbert (@SteveGilbertMLB) July 7, 2014

No date has been set for Arroyo’s surgery, although Gibson sounded optimistic that the veteran’s rehabilitation timetable would be shorter than most.

“Because of the way he throws, the hope is that he won’t need as long to rehab,” he said. “(The hope is) that he can recover quickly. Generally, in his career, he’s been really healthy.”

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