My son is actually in his 1st yr of JUCO, a catcher. Led the nation for a time for most homeruns, settled at #7 after his arm got to bad to play. Appeared he was being drafted, met with team several times, negotiated an offer...on/off shoulder problems since 9th grade. Missed his jr year with ulnar transposition surgery. Had a great sr year, but towards end shoulder pain increased. Dx with tendonitis (altho they did no testing). Tried to rehab that summer but pain continued. As mentioned, he was doing very well at his JUCO, until shoulder became unbearable. Still with pop time of 1.87. MRI showed internal impingement, labrum tear with bucket handle (appeared to go completely around) and a Bennett lesion. Already knew rehab would be slow. Surgery yesterday revealed SLAP III with the bucket handle and a full thickness rotator cuff tear. He came out of surgery and was devastated. Can't even touch a ball until 5m. Will miss all of his strength training (those homeruns won't come as easily next season) and likely all pre-season workouts. Know success rate for pitchers is poor... but, he is catcher. Any catchers experience this? As a parent, I feel so bad for him, as he truly wants nothing more in life than to play baseball (even if he went late in draft where Money is slim picking).
Original Post