Mateo’s injury turned out to involve damage to the ulnar collateral ligament in his non-throwing elbow.
There are a number of injured Orioles who fans and the team have been hoping to see make a return in September. On Wednesday evening, we found out one name who won’t be back by season’s end. The team announced that injured infielder Jorge Mateo has had ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, with an internal brace and flexor repair, on his non-throwing elbow. His season is over.
Any surgery on the UCL is in the vicinity of Tommy John surgery, although the announcement didn’t describe it as exactly that. Mateo suffered the injury in what looked like – and turned out to be – a grotesque collision with Gunnar Henderson while trying to field a ground ball during a July 23 loss to the Marlins. He’s been out ever since, without any of the optimism for a coming return that’s been a part of some of the other injured guys. Now we know why.
Since Mateo has been on the injured list for over a month with no plan for a return, and he’d already been moved to the 60-day injured list, the immediate impact of this announcement on the Orioles season is minimal. They’ve been playing without him, they’ll keep playing without him, and this news doesn’t afford any new way to make space on the roster.
It’s a shame that Mateo won’t be able to make a return, because he was offering value to the team in a reserve role thanks to his speed and some defensive versatility, and his bat was good enough for that role as well. There’s been nobody who can do what he does on the roster since he was hurt.
Typically, the recovery time for this surgery is less for position players, because they don’t have to build back up to the same point as a pitcher does. The fact that it’s not on Mateo’s throwing elbow could lessen the amount of time needed before he can start building back up into game shape. But it’s still a major surgery that would not have been done if there wasn’t serious damage, and it’ll be a while that he’s gone.
Just last year, Philadelphia’s Bryce Harper made some headlines with a Wolverine-like recovery from his own Tommy John surgery, making it back into game action in under six months. Harper did nothing except for bat for nearly three months after he returned.
With Mateo’s injury on his non-throwing arm, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he’d be ready on or close to Opening Day next year. Realistically, we (the public) are not likely to know anything about how it’s going until players report to spring training next season. I hope that he can have as speedy a recovery as possible. The 2025 Orioles could use him on the bench.