None of these situations are the same, so keep an open mind do your research and get informed opinions. My son is a 2014 right handed pitcher (reclassed to repeat his junior year), his story is as follows He suffered an avulsion fracture where a piece of bone to which his ulnar collateral ligament was attached broke away from his arm. After consulting numerous ortho docs, many X-rays, MRIs and the like we had no consensus on what his actual injury was. We ultimately went to Dr Andrews who made the avulsion fracture diagnosis. He initially felt that taking 6 to 8 months off and going through the Tommy John rehab protocol would allow my sons elbow to heal. He pitched for one month, the bone fragment again pulled away from is elbow and he could no longer pitch. Dr Andrews performed TJ on my son in June 2012 he rehabbed and was on the mound in March 2013. Moral of the story is - this is apparently not an easy diagnosis and docs that don't see it often misdiagnose the injury. My son did not have arm pain and the fracture occured when he was 12. He heard his elbow pop and had a brief bit of discomfort that day. We tookhim to see doc and xrays just as a precaution and were told his arm popped out of place and he should be fine in a few days. it was the same x-ray Dr Andrews looked at and said "well there it is plain as day" He experienced no problems until 3 years later when he woke up one morning and couldn't straighten his arm. Lots of doctor visits, google searches,frustration and one heck of a lot of work on his part he is set to begin his senior year season Monday.
I really hope a few days off solves your sons problems. I don't wish my sons experience on anyone. Having been through this 2+ year process of getting my son back on the mound, I have a couple of observations. 1) Dr Andrews is the absolute best doctor ever. Not because he fixed my sons arm but because he cared what happened to him, he treated him like he was his grandson. 2) these injuries are over use injuries plain and simple. A kids size and strength plays a roll in how much use is over use. 3) only one college coach asked any questions or showed any concern that he had TJ; we always told everyone up front.