Tigers closer
Joe Nathan was
diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) and a torn flexor pronator, which will require season-ending Tommy John surgery, CBSSports.com Baseball Insider Jon Heyman confirms. Bob Nightengale of
USA Today first reported.
Nathan, 40, was working his way back from flexor elbow strain when he aggravated the injury after throwing 10 pitchers in a Triple-A rehab outing on Wednesday. After the outing he told reporters he felt as if he broke his arm.
"There's no good time to have an injury like that. I don't know that Joe's done pitching,"
manager Brad Ausmus said, per Jason Beck of MLB.com.
The news of his torn UCL comes minutes after the club announced that they recalled the closer from his rehab assignment. Nathan's 2015 season comes to an end with one strikeout in just one-third of an inning. He is not considering retirement and will rehab in attempt to return to the big-league roster next season. He added that he
won't be able to pick up a ball for eight months, per MLive.com.
"I'm preparing myself to come back and be a major league player again," Nathan said,
per MLive.com. "Regardless of what the future holds for me, I'm going to prepare myself to come back and play this game. Hanging my cleats never crossed my mind."