Red Sox’ Brandon Workman receives Tommy John Surgery

The saga of Brandon Workman‘s lost season has continued with the news that the injury-plagued right-hander has undergone Tommy John Surgery.

Workman had not pitched at all this season since spring training after feeling discomfort in his throwing elbow and, though he received a platelet-rich plasma injection in March in an attempt to avoid missing the entire season, those plans did not prove fruitful. In fact, he has now delayed his recovery to the point where he’ll likely miss roughly half of next season as well.

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This just serves as another chapter in the disappointing MLB career of Workman thus far. He first joined the Red Sox in July of 2013 and pitched well in a few starts before converting to the bullpen and pitching in relief down the stretch. While his regular season numbers (6.94 ERA in 23.1 innings of relief) didn’t look promising in that role, he had impressive results in the postseason (8.2 innings of only an unearned run). That performance strengthened the argument that he belonged as a reliever in the long run, but the Red Sox still kept him as a starter for the 2014 season.

Injuries and midseason trades forced Workman into the rotation for much of the season, though, and the results weren’t good. In 19 games (15 starts) last season, he went a disheartening 1-10 with a 5.17 ERA and, though his 4.44 FIP suggests he wasn’t quite that bad, it was clear that Workman was not cut out to be a major league starter.

In spring training this season, the Red Sox announced they would convert Workman to a full time reliever. Unfortunately, he hasn’t had the chance to impress in that role with this injury and, given the lengthy recovery time of Tommy John Surgery, he won’t be able to do so for quite a while. It’s a shame that Workman’s promising career has been derailed by injuries and ineffectiveness thus far, but hopefully he’ll round into form next season.