Nationals Get Devastating Update on Joe Ross Elbow Injury

Joe Ross hasn't been lights-out in 2021 by any stretch, but he's clearly playing his best baseball since undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2020. His ERA is down to 4.17 (lowest since 2016) and his WHIP is at 1.22 (lowest since 2015) this year.

That makes Sunday's news incredibly devastating for the 28-year-old righty, who received a crushing diagnosis of a partially torn UCL.

Joe Ross Injury

This could mean Tommy John surgery number two for Ross, which has the potential to be career ending. A 2020 story from the San Diego Tribune reports that "Of the 42 major league pitchers who have had two Tommy John surgeries, the majority did not pitch in the majors again after their second or fared poorly over a short period."

There's some room for optimism, as Ross is younger than the majority of those pitchers, which leaves the potential for a late career resurgence into his 30s.

And of course, "surgery is possible" is certainly far from a guarantee that it will be required. At this point, all Nationals fans can do is wait with their fingers crossed that Ross won't be handed another massive setback for his career.

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Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.