One of the better stories of the offseason involved 37-year-old pitcher Luke Hagerty, who after not throwing a competitive pitch in more than a decade was attempting a comeback with the Cubs. Yup, at 37-years-old, Hagerty signed with the Cubs after being a first-round pick by the Cubs way back in 2002.
In 2002, Luke Hagerty was a first-round pick of the Cubs.
In 2007, the yips chased him out of organized baseball.
In 2019, he's throwing 99 mph.
Baseball has a history of amazing comebacks. At 37 years old, Luke Hagerty could be the best. Story at ESPN: https://t.co/Rn288Ln08R
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) February 1, 2019
Do yourself a favor and read that story by Jeff Passan on Hagerty and his comeback to professional baseball. Anyway, this wasn’t a case of the Cubs feeling sorry for the lefty, Hagerty was legitimately impressing scouts in the offseason, throwing in the high 90s. Unfortunately, a report from Cubs Insider doesn’t bode well for Hagerty, who will be 38-years-old on April 1.
According to the report, Hagerty is having elbow surgery and will miss the entire 2019 season.
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Sources: Cubs’ Luke Hagerty to Undergo Elbow Surgery, Storybook Comeback May Be Over Before It Starts – Cubs Insider https://t.co/qOADSPVyTS
— Cubs Insider (@realcubsinsider) March 27, 2019
Via Cubs Insider.
As sources have informed Cubs Insider, Hagerty will undergo elbow surgery and will miss at least the rest of 2019. Though it’s not necessarily a career death knell, since we’re talking about a man who signed a professional contract at 37 after having thrown zero live pitches in a game since 2008, this is another significant detour.
But who knows, Hagerty has already had a long journey back to baseball, what’s one surgery to completely derail his dreams. Here’s what he said back in March about his comeback.
Via MLB.com.
“I’m not here to waste anybody’s time,” he said. “I don’t want to come in and just be kind of thrown in there like, ‘Oh, that’s a great story. Let’s have him come in and play around a little bit.’ I don’t want that. I don’t need that. I came back because I feel like I could help the team in some way. That’s what I want to do and why I’m here.”
Best of luck to Luke and hopefully this isn’t the end of what so far has been a pretty good comeback story.
