JT Brubaker will not pitch for the Pirates in 2023, as the right-hander underwent right elbow surgery Wednesday to reconstruct the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL), commonly referred to as Tommy John surgery.
His projected full to return to major-league competition is 14-16 months, which would be in the second half of the 2024 season.
Brubaker, 29, has been one of the staples of the Pirates' rotation the last three seasons. Last year, he went 3-12 with a 4.69 ERA and 3.92 FIP over 28 starts and 144 innings
He came into this year set to be a part of the Pirates' rotation again and had a very encouraging spring training, where he struck out 26 over 17 1/3 innings. However, he felt some discomfort in his right elbow shortly before the start of the season and was shut down.
After several weeks of learning about the injury and exploring possibilities moving forward -- including Brubaker getting a second opinion Tuesday -- he eventually had to go under the knife.
"He’s [Brubaker] gonna overcome this elbow injury and get back," Ben Cherington said Wednesday. "We’re gonna support him."
The procedure was performed by Dr. Keith Meister.
Brubaker and the Pirates agreed to a one-year, $2.275 million deal ahead of the 2023 season to avoid arbitration. He has two years of team control remaining via arbitration, so the two sides appear to be in good position to stick together even as he goes through a long rehab process.
In his major-league career, Brubaker is 9-28 with a 4.99 ERA and has been worth 0.4 WAR, according to Baseball Reference.
So far, Johan Oviedo has taken Brubaker's spot in the rotation to encouraging results. He has runway to continue to hold that spot while the Pirates have several other minor-league options available to help if needed, including Luis Ortiz, Quinn Priester and potentially Mike Burrows, though Burrows is also dealing with a forearm injury and is expected to be out for some time.
