Jose Leclerc to have Tommy John surgery

Photo by Ben VanHouten/MLB Photos via Getty ImagesJose Leclerc will have Tommy John surgery, the Texas Rangers announced today. The righthanded relief pitcher will presumably be out at least until June, 2022, as a result.

This is a big blow, but not an unsurprising one. Leclerc was reported last week to be dealing with elbow soreness that the team expected to sideline him for a significant length of time, and that’s one of those announcements which is usually made when they are thinking a damaged UCL will require Tommy John surgery.

Leclerc, 27, is in the third year of a 4 year, $14.75 million contract extension with a pair of team options which potentially keeps him under team control…