Ivan Nova appears to be next in line for Tommy John surgery after the Yankees “recommended” he have the procedure following a second MRI exam.
While the right-hander still could opt for rehab, that seems very unlikely. Matt Harvey understands why Nova would consider rehabbing the injury even after learning he had a torn UCL in his elbow.
“Once they told me what it was, I was a little bit in disbelief,” Harvey said at Citi Field Tuesday night of his diagnosis last year. “I think the biggest difference for me was that I didn’t have any pain in my elbow, just the tightness in the forearm.”
The injury is more clear-cut for Nova, with the tell-tale elbow pain he admitted to having after throwing his final pitch in a road start Saturday against Tampa Bay. Harvey said he went under the knife for peace of mind.
“At first, I had the idea that I didn’t need it,” Harvey said. “But every time I thought about it, I kept coming back to: ‘Am I going to have this on my mind every time I pitch?’ When I wake up, is the first thing in my head going to be: ‘Is today the day I throw and it finally goes?’ It was tough.”
Harvey is pleased he opted for the procedure, even if he didn’t come to the decision easily.
“I knew if I had it, I had to be all-in and didn’t want to look back,” Harvey said. “It just took me a while to realize that was the way to go.”
It took two months.
“Looking back now at the situation, if I had gone right away, I would be eight months out [since the surgery] instead of six,” Harvey said.
Despite that, Harvey still doesn’t regret taking his time.
“For me, I needed to go into the surgery with the mentality that this was ultimately what I wanted to do,” Harvey said. “Once I realized that’s where I wanted to go, it was a much easier surgery and definitely has helped with the recovery.”