There’s a persistent urban legend in baseball circles that parents are having their teenagers undergo voluntary Tommy John reconstruction in order to make their elbows stronger and as a preemptive strike against something that’s probably going to happen anyway. Setting aside the stupidity of the latter aspect and the abhorrent ethics involved all the way around, there is actually a legitimate kernel of truth buried within the myth.
As anyone who’s gone through joint reconstruction of any kind can tell you, the rehab process is not fun. Doing it right requires battling through a series of exercises to improve strengthen and range of motion, many of which were probably not part of the patient’s daily routine prior to surgery.