ZACK BRITTON OUT FOR THE REST OF 2021 AND POSSIBLY LONGER....

We are starting to learn more about Zack Britton's injury and we knew it wasn't going to be good....but could it be even worse than we thought? Maybe, but we hope not. The future still has some unknowns, but one thing we do know for certain is that this is Britton's third and last trip to the Injured list for the 2021 season.

To say that I am disappointed for him is an understatement. You can read more about it HERE in case you missed it. So Britton will have elbow surgery on September 8th and what doctors will find in there, no one knows but hopefully it's nothing serious. It's hard to hear that Britton will have ANOTHER bone chip removed. The Yankees lost him in March when we underwent surgery to remove the first chip and he was out until June. When he came back he was pretty awful and now he's going to do it all over again. Britton's season is over, and it wasn't a good one. We know he is capable of more, we've seen it. It's why the Yankees brought him back. So now we cross our fingers for 2022.

And now we hold our breath and hope that he doesn't miss significant time to start the 2022 season, but Britton himself didn't rule that out. He did mention that when Dr. ElAttrache does the surgery he will also be looking at his UCL. "Tommy John’s not the only thing they do nowadays with the UCL," Britton cautioned. "There’s other options. I think we’re all hopeful it’s not severe. Basically the biggest issue is the bone chip. That’s been causing the issue, not the UCL."

So hopefully this is just precautionary and this isn't a bigger issue, but even Aaron Boone was concerned. "I’m hopeful that it’s not something long term that has to take 12-16 months," Boone said. "Hopefully he can start his rehab this winter and be on the mound sometime early next year."

 

Dr. ElAttrache is a very trusted surgeon but he does also do a lot of Tommy John surgeries these days. It just makes me wonder if they missed something back in March during the first surgery. Britton was not himself this season, so it's possible...but not a possibility that I WANT to accept right now.

We all want to see Britton back sooner rather than later, and performing at the level we know he is capable of. We will call 2021 a lost season for him and look forward to his resurgence in 2022. Hopefully Britton's right. It's a bone chip and nothing more.....fingers crossed.

  --Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

     BYB Managing Editor

    Twitter: @nyprincessj