Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani He’s pitching so well after his second Tommy John elbow surgery that his rehab team is starting to hit the brakes.
“We’re trying to keep his velocity down because it needs to be a little more gradual,” Dodgers team doctor Neal ElAttrache told the Los Angeles Times on Thursday, saying he would prefer the two-way phenom’s pitching velocity be kept below of 90 mph. for the moment but it has risen to 93.
ElAttrache performed both Tommy John operations in Ohtani, the first in 2018 and the second last september.
Ohtani is the Dodgers’ designated hitter and earlier this month became the first player in Major League history with at least 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in the same season.
“Almost every time you look at what he’s doing, it shows that he’s one of the guys,” ElAttrache said of the $700 million off-season acquisition.
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As well as Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman did with journalists this weekElAttrache poured cold water on the fantasy of Ohtani returning to the pitcher’s mound for this postseason.
“It’s not really a good idea for someone returning from elbow or shoulder surgery to return to competition in the postseason,” the surgeon said. “There are no minor league games to begin rehab to return to competition this time of year, so his first competition would be under high-stress conditions in the postseason.
“It’s not a good idea for either the player or the team.”
While Ohtani is the founding member of the 50/50 club, ElAttrache could become the first surgeon of the four-by-four club.
He repaired Ohtani’s elbow, en route to his third MVP award, along with likely Cy Young winners Tarik Skubal of the Detroit Tigers and Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves. ElAttrache also fixed the shoulder of New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, the likely American League Most Valuable Player.
Last Wednesday marked the 50th anniversary of the first Tommy John surgery, performed on a Dodgers pitcher of the same name. It was started by legendary surgeon Frank Jobe, who, along with Bob Kerlan, formed the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Clinic, where ElAttrache has spent his entire career.
“ACL reconstructions are more common in sports,” ElAttrache said. “But in terms of saving baseball players’ careers, there’s nothing like Tommy John.”
ElAttrache began learning the operation in 1990 as a Kerlan-Jobe fellow. By his estimates, he has performed between 50 and 75 Tommy John surgeries each year for three decades.
The procedure involves replacing a damaged ulnar collateral ligament in a player’s throwing elbow with a tendon graft from the wrist of his non-throwing arm. Those wrist tendons, although durable, are not necessary for everyday functions and, in fact, about 20% of people don’t even have them.
A second Tommy John surgery, as in Ohtani’s case, is known as a Tommy John revision.
“Just because you had one doesn’t make you bulletproof,” ElAttrache said. “If you can break the ligament God gave you, you can break the one we gave you.”
Read more: Meet Shohei Ohtani’s Surgeon Who Repairs Sports’ Biggest Stars and Saved His $700 Million Arm
Not surprisingly, the rate of return to peak performance drops from the first Tommy John to the second. But ElAttrache said there’s no indication Ohtani won’t be great when he returns to pitching.
As for ElAttrache, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Dodger Stadium on the anniversary of the first Tommy John surgery. The late Jobe’s two sons released their own releases.
Catching the doctor’s throw was the Dodgers pitcher Walker Buhler.
“I’ve made him two Tommy Johns,” ElAttrache said. “He said, ‘You know, I wouldn’t have let anyone else catch this pitch.’ And I said, “I was counting on this, Walker.” I would have stayed there waiting for you to come out if you hadn’t.’”
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This story originally appeared on Los Angeles Times.