Cardinals Hit With Concerning Packy Naughton Surgery News

This past offseason, he was finally healthy again and looked great. In Spring Training, he had a 1.29 ERA in seven appearances, but the Cardinals had him kick off the season down in Triple-A to get up to speed before helping the big league bullpen. He made three appearances and had a 3.86 ERA. More bad luck has struck, though. Naughton reportedly will undergo elbow surgery in June, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

"Update: Packy Naughton, who started his latest comeback with a strong spring before injury in one of his first Class AAA Memphis appearances, will have elbow surgery next month, Cardinals confirm," Goold wrote. "Surgery will reveal the extent of repair and timetable for lefty."

The Cardinals' lefty just can't catch a break. Naughton just turned 30 years old on April 16. As Goold noted, there won't be a timetable for return until his surgery is completed. Hopefully, it's on the shorter side and he's able to return to the mound at some point in 2026, or right away in 2027. He's had bad luck. But, again, he's just 30 years old. There's still plenty of time left for him to turn this bad luck around and return to the majors. We've seen plenty of guys over the years find success on the mound — especially out of the bullpen — after 30 years old. This isn't a good update for Naughton, by any means. But it doesn't mean that he's done.

The next step is surgery and then it's back to the grind for the veteran lefty. It's tough that he's had to do this now multiple times, but he has been able to get back to the mound multiple times at this point. He will be back stronger.