Satterwhite Injury Update

In case you missed it, last weekend Tigers minor league pitcher Cody Satterwhite came up with a sore right shoulder. The injury was rumored to be a torn labrum, which would be a devastating injury and could possibly end Satterwhite’s career.

News then filtered down that Satterwhite had been seen by Dr. James Andrews and was prescribed a rehab regiment in an attempt to avoid surgery. The torn labrum was at that point believed to be possibly a torn rotator cuff, or even as mild as a strain.

On his blog covering the AA Erie SeaWolves, where Satterwhite was assigned to pitch this year, Nick Underhill noted this morning that while there was no timetable for his return, Satterwhite’s rehab process seemed to indicate the injury was not as serious as once thought. Then, this afternoon, more from Underhill:

"“I don’t think it looks real good with him, obviously” SeaWolves manager Phil Nevin said.  “His original diagnosis was that he was going to get surgery. He got a second opinion from (Dr. James Andrews) and he’s going to try to rehab it for a little bit, but obviously there’s something going on in there.”"

There is still no official word on the actual diagnosis at this point, so all of us are simply guessing as to the severity, but from the sounds of the quotes by Nevin and the strange pattern the news seems to have taken, this injury might very well be one that significantly alters the career of the young right hander.

This looks and sounds awfully familiar doesn’t it? Bobby Seay seems to have followed this exact same path this spring when his shoulder came up lame. For the sake of Seay and Satterwhite both, let’s hope the rehab process goes wll, because it sounds as if surgery could mean the end for both pitchers.

We’ll keep you updated if any new news breaks on this situation.