Matt Hobgood Shut Down With Shoulder Injury

[Brendan25]

Surprised this isn't posted yet. I'll post more as I get it.

[osbaseball08]

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/blog/2010/12/hobgoods_2011_season_will_be_d.html

Matt Hobgood’s professional career hasn’t gotten off to a good start since the Orioles made the California high school pitcher the fifth overall selection in the 2009 draft. He’s struggled to find consistency on the mound and his conditioning has been an issue.

Now, the 20-year-old is dealing with a right shoulder injury that will likely delay his start to the 2011 season. Hobgood started feeling some discomfort in his shoulder about two weeks ago while he was playing catch and the discomfort was significant enough for the pitcher to make pre-Christmas visits to both Orioles team orthopedist Dr. John Wilckens and renowned orthopedist Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala.

[Hank Scorpio]

Sweet.

[Brendan25]

Matt Hobgood’s professional career hasn’t gotten off to a good start since the Orioles made the California high school pitcher the fifth overall selection in the 2009 draft. He’s struggled to find consistency on the mound and his conditioning has been an issue.

Now, the 20-year-old is dealing with a right shoulder injury that will likely delay his start to the 2011 season. Hobgood started feeling some discomfort in his shoulder about two weeks ago while he was playing catch and the discomfort was significant enough for the pitcher to make pre-Christmas visits to both Orioles team orthopedist Dr. John Wilckens and renowned orthopedist Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala.

He was diagnosed with a rotator cuff strain. He’ll begin a therapy and rehabilitation program after the New Year, and then be re-evaluated in mid to late February.

“We’ll take the four to six weeks and then look at it,” said Orioles director of player development John Stockstill. “It might be a minor setback, it might be more than that. We’re not going to know until he goes through this.”

Stockstill said that the two doctors don’t think surgery is necessary at this point. Hobgood would have begun the 2011 season at either Low-A Delmarva or High-A Frederick, but the shoulder issues almost certainly mean that he’ll remain at extended spring training when the minor league seasons start.

Hobgood’s selection in 2009 was highly questioned by Oriole fans as the prep pitcher was considered a middle-to-late first-round pick by draft pundits. That – coupled by his slightly below-slot $2.42 million signing – fueled questions that the Orioles took him fifth overall because they felt that they could sign him quickly and relatively cheaply compared to other possible picks.

Hobgood went 1-2 with a 4.73 ERA in eight starts for Rookie-level Bluefield in 2009 and then followed that up by going 3-7 with a 4.40 ERA in 21 starts for Single-A Delmarva this past season. He started the season ranked as the Orioles’ fifth-best prospect by Baseball America, but he was not included among the organization’s top-10 prospects in rankings released recently by the publication.

A bigger concern beyond his numbers was that Hobgood’s velocity was down significantly, which team officials felt was a result of the prospect not being in good enough shape.

Several team officials spoke to Hobgood about getting into better shape and he appeared to be taking the message seriously. Hobgood has been working out at Athletes’ Performance in California in a group that includes Brian Matusz and Chris Tillman.

Tillman was highly complimentary of the pitcher’s work ethic, saying that Hobgood was doing conditioning work both before and after the regular workouts.

However, the latest news is certainly a blow to Hobgood, and the Orioles, who were hoping that their top draft pick would make some significant strides this year. He still may, but he’s going to have to get healthy first.

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/blog/2010/12/hobgoods_2011_season_will_be_d.html

Doesn't sound serious.

[Birds of B'more]

Doesn't sound serious.

It seems like these things never sound serious....at first. When it comes to pitchers and the slightest shoulder injury, I cringe. Time will tell.

[Jimbo81]

Just give him a bat now and hope for the best. I really hate to be this way but, sometimes it just seems like thats the way it is for the O's.

[olehippi]

Doesn't sound serious.

Sorry, but any kind of shoulder injury is potentially serious for a pitcher.

[Birds08]

I am obviously rooting for Matt and hoping that this doesn't turn out to be major, but if he ends up being a bust pick, the Orioles are getting what they deserve. There were plenty of other guys that they should've picked over Hobgood, in terms of both best available player and areas of need.

[scOtt]

Sorry, but any kind of shoulder injury is potentially serious for a pitcher.

Yeah. Shoulders are usually bad news.

[MarkF]

I am obviously rooting for Matt and hoping that this doesn't turn out to be major, but if he ends up being a bust pick, the Orioles are getting what they deserve. There were plenty of other guys that they should've picked over Hobgood, in terms of both best available player and areas of need.

I'm sorry, but I don't get your point here. You seem to be saying that the Orioles are getting "what they deserve" because someone else who MIGHT have had more talent was less likely to be injured. Or said another way, the Orioles ended up with an injured player BECAUSE they picked a player with less talent than was available. Huh?

[Gurgi]

Hobgood has been snakebit.

Lets hope this is minor.

[QBsILLEST1]

Yeah. Shoulders are usually bad news.

Definitely. Hopefully this is just the product of trying to do too much too soon, we see stuff like this a lot in ST because everyone's arm isn't in mid-season shape, but let me share the sentiment that this sounds kinda scary when you look at the entire picture here. The loss in velocity by itself to me was a red flag. I mentioned before that it may be an injury because velocity drops a lot of times are precursors to injury and vice versa. The thing with shoulder pain is that the smallest discomfort can really be troublesome. Something you may consider to be minor pain or minor discomfort could actually be a torn labrum or a torn cuff and can dimish your velocity, command and overall stuff.

Maybe its me, but an injured shoulder sounds like a lot better of an explanation for the dramatic velocity loss than "being out of shape". Lets hope for the best, but this is beginning to sounds pretty scary....

[sandman0838]

Hobgood has been snakebit.

Lets hope this is minor.

Penn part deux.

[Can_of_corn]

Penn part deux.

I don't think Penn is a valid comparison. Penn shot through the farm system then got some random bad luck (appendicitis right before getting called up). Hobgood is more run of the mill pitcher things, showing up out of shape and arm issues. At this point Penn's career arc is looking brighter then Hobgood's.

I hope Hobgood invested that signing bonus.

[McLovin]

A horrible pick just keeps looking worse and worse.