ATLANTA — When Mets pitcher Seth Lugo took the mound against the Atlanta Braves on Sunday for his season debut, he did not think about the unpredictable state of his elbow. It had not hurt in over a month so why start worrying now?
Pitching is hard on the arm. Lugo had confirmed this the hard way in spring training, when the tightness in his right elbow was found to be a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament.
Hoping to avoid a lost year, Lugo, his doctors and the Mets decided to pursue rehabilitation instead of Tommy John surgery, the common operation to replace the ligament.