Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Blake Snell returned to throwing a baseball on the field a little more than two weeks removed from surgery.
Snell underwent the NanoNeedle procedure on his elbow to remove loose bodies. The southpaw had just returned from shoulder discomfort, which held him out for the start of the season.
He came back in May to make his first start of the season against the Atlanta Braves, pitched just four innings, and was then found to have loose bodies in his elbow for the second time in his career, the last of which came in 2019, when he was with Tampa Bay.
Typically, the layoff for this kind of procedure is a three-month recovery timeline, a diagnosis, and a schedule that Edwin Diaz got for the elbow surgery he underwent for loose bodies earlier in the year.
How Tarik Skubal started the NanoNeedle trend
However, the NanoNeedle, or “SkubalScope” as those around MLB refer to it, is a less invasive and less painful procedure that shortens the timeline to six to eight weeks.
The procedure has gained traction after Detroit Tigers ace and possible Dodgers trade target Tarik Skubal underwent the surgery for his own loose bodies injury.
With Skubal in his last year before free agency, he naturally explored different kidns of options to avoid a long layoff and hurry back to prove his health, and the procedure has paid off.
Skubal, just one month after surgery, is making a rehabilitation start for Detroit over the weekend and could rejoin the Tigers in a week’s time following one start.
What Snell’s throwing means for the Dodgers
Now, Snell is throwing, albeit at the very start of a throwing program that has not seen him put in much effort, marking another success story for the NanoNeedle and possibly meaning Snell might return on a five-to-six-week timeline instead of the months previously thought.
“It went well. As well as to be expected,” manager Dave Roberts said about Snell’s surgery.
“I guess the nano thing was a good thing, obviously. So the recovery is cut much shorter. I don’t have a timeline. I just know that it’s shorter than what we initially anticipated.”
Snell is not urgently needed right now, with it being the start of the summer’s dog days, but he will need a good amount of ramp-up time to get into postseason shape, and the success of the surgery means that process has more room to breathe than would have been possible beforehand.
