D-backs’ Daniel Hudson thought about retirement, opts for surgery

Five days removed from his rehab start with Double-A Mobile, Daniel Hudson still couldn’t believe how quickly things took a turn for the worse.

After feeling great during his first inning of work, Hudson told the media Sunday he quickly noticed a change as he began to throw to start the second.

“Started warming up and it didn’t feel terrible,” said Hudson. “But then about 10 pitches in, [the elbow] locked up. I didn’t remember feeling anything crazy, it just locked up.”

The Arizona Diamondbacks’ right-hander finished the inning, but it would be his last of 2013.

Following his outing, Hudson returned to the Valley to see the team’s head physician, Dr. Michael Lee, and it was determined he had suffered a re-tear of the UCL in his right elbow.

Hudson originally tore his UCL during a start against the Atlanta Braves on June 26, 2012 and had Tommy John surgery less than two weeks later.

“I’d say for a good couple hours after I found out the news, I was fifty-fifty [on returning], just because I didn’t know mentally if I could do it again,” said Hudson. “Just 12 months of watching baseball and not doing anything. It was a tough few hours for us.

“But people have it way worse than I do, so I figured if I didn’t get it done, if I didn’t try at least, I couldn’t look myself in the mirror in five years.”

Hudson said he plans to go the surgery route, but not before meeting with Dr. James Andrews in Alabama.

“Probably going to get a second opinion on it, I mean there’s not really much of an opinion,” said Hudson. “But we’re going to go get a consult with [Dr. Andrews], hopefully get it fixed and go from there.”

While Hudson doesn’t have a set reservation with Andrews yet, he hopes to have a more concrete idea of when the process will begin over the next few days.

The 26-year-old is all too familiar with the 12-month path he’s about to go down but said his teammates and coaches have tried to comfort him in anyway they can as he embarks on the long, arduous road to recovery.

“I didn’t even want to see anybody the other day,” said Hudson. “I just sat at my house and tried to make sense of it, but that didn’t work. It’s nice to come in here and see everybody. Everybody’s been great about it.”

Hudson is just two seasons removed from a 2011 campaign in which he went 16-11 with a 3.49 ERA.