The Pittsburgh Pirates announced today that right-handed pitcher JT Brubaker underwent Tommy John surgery on his right elbow to reconstruct his ulnar collateral ligament. The surgery was performed by Dr. Keith Meister. Brubaker is projected to return to MLB competition in 14-16 months.
That’s a tough setback for Brubaker, who was going to be one of the core pieces in the rotation this year during his age 29 season. His ERA in 315.2 innings in the majors is 4.99, but his FIP is 4.43. The latter was 3.92 last year, and the hope was that Brubaker would take a step forward in 2023, just as he did from 2021 to 2022.