St. Louis Cardinals: Lance Lynn ready to cheer and heal

St. Louis Cardinals’ Lance Lynn talked about his 2015 season, Tommy John injury and road to recovery.

2015 wasn’t exactly a loss for St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Lance Lynn but it was a difficult ending. Lynn noticed unusual pain in his forearm in May and after a DL stay, he decided to push through an arm injury that eventually required Tommy John Surgery.

“It started in May. It flared up in June. MRI showed ligament damage. We strengthened it up and pushed through.”

His 2016 season now will consist of pushing fellow teammates like Adam Wainwright. “Anything you can do to help. There’s always something you can do. I’m sure I can get under his skin and get him going.”

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When the time is right, Lynn hopes to lean on former Cardinals who had the surgery. “Once we get day in and day out and I start feeling things, I will definitely go to them (Wainwright and Carpenter) and see how they handled it. See which doctors they used and such.”

When asked how the injury unfolded in 2015 and if it could have been prevented, Lynn stuck to the idea that due to other injuries on the pitching staff, he fought through it.  “With Adam out and where we were out, I gutted it out and we won some games and I have no regrets.”

That doesn’t mean it was easy on his arm or his day to day activities. “Every time I started I had to deal with certain things. I was able to pitch effectively and at times I couldn’t do what I wanted to do but we got through it. There were games where I didn’t throw breaking pitches.”

Lynn got his brace off last week, and after some routine x-rays to see if everything is good around the ligament, he can start his rehab. He won’t touch a baseball for a while and he won’t see game action for 13 months, but Lynn is staying positive and relishing his opportunity to help his team. While he never seems comfortable in the media, Lynn has fun with the sessions and has developed a layer of skin that fits perfectly with his ability on the mound.

2016 will feature zero Lance Lynn fastballs, zero postgame candid interviews and no gritty Lynn starts. That’s the sad part. The good part is Lynn showed a side of Carpenter and Waino in gutting out a season for his team and will only miss one year. Timing sits on his side, and soon enough he will be back on the road to recovery.