Emmet Sheehan Staying Optimistic After Undergoing Tommy John Surgery

Emmet Sheehan was expected to be a contributor in the Los Angeles Dodgers starting rotation this year, but he will be sidelined for the entire 2024 season after undergoing season-ending right elbow UCL surgery.

Sheehan had the operation last week, which was performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache. The right-hander confirmed that he underwent a Tommy John hybrid procedure with an internal brace added to the new ligament.

Sheehan made his MLB debut last season, going 4-1 with a 4.92 ERA and 64 strikeouts in 60.1 innings pitched. He entered Spring Training as the favorite to claim the last spot in the Dodgers rotation, but began experiencing body soreness after facing Shohei Ohtani in live batting practice.

Sheehan was confident he would eventually pitch this season, but instead joins a long of pitchers who are on the mend from elbow surgery. “I think definitely easier now than it would have been 20-30 years ago,” Sheehan said of the recovery process.

“It’s a lot more common now and they have a lot more experience rehabbing this type of thing. So definitely good to be around a lot of people that have that experience. And I haven’t been through a rehab that long, but I know what it looks like, so not too scary.”

Sheehan knows he has a long road ahead of him but is choosing to keep a positive outlook. “Yeah, I mean, I don’t really think there’s any point in being down in the dumps about it right now,” he said.

“There’s a lot of work to be done ahead of me. But been in situations before where it didn’t seem likely that I was going to make it to the big leagues or to get drafted, stuff like that. I don’t know, I feel like there’s always a light at the end, so it’ll be alright.”

Given the recovery time for elbow surgery, Sheehan is likely looking at the second half of 2025 as a potential timeline to getting back on the mound. “Yeah, I mean, super frustrating,” he began.

“Obviously with being on a team like this, it’s really cool to be around these guys. And obviously to get to play with them was a great opportunity that I was looking forward to, but no real point in thinking about that now.

“Kind of just moving on to the next thing and trying to progress and get better and be healthy for next year.”

Emmet Sheehan unsure of what caused elbow injury

Sheehan previously said that his elbow injury did not stem from a specific pitch or throw, but admitted he will never know for sure. “In my head, of course, I have thought about that type of stuff,” Sheehan said.

“But I don’t think it really does me any good. And I don’t know if I’m ever going to know exactly when it happened. So yeah, not sure.”