Adbert Alzolay has been absent from Chicago Cubs baseball for almost three months. Unfortunately, it appears he will be out for much longer. The Cubs’ manager, Craig Counsell, revealed on Tuesday that Alzolay will undergo Tommy John surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his right elbow.
This means his 2024 season will come to an early end after only 18 appearances out of the Cubs’ bullpen. His last game was on May 12, after which a right flexor strain caused him to be sidelined the following day.
Counsell didn’t specify a return timeline, only mentioning that it would be “long.” He refrained from guessing whether Alzolay might miss next season, but given the typical recovery period of 12-18 months (as noted by MLB.com), it’s likely that his chances for 2025 are slim.
“God’s plan… the road to recovery starts today. I’ll be back better than ever,” Alzolay posted on X, referencing his “People’s Fist” celebration.
This is undoubtedly a setback for Alzolay, who had proven to be a reliable closing option in 2023, converting 22 of his first 23 save opportunities for the Cubs. Despite struggling in his last two save attempts and missing over half of September due to a right forearm strain, he was looking to capitalize on his successful first season in the closer role as he approached 2024.
However, he faced challenges from the very beginning. On Opening Day, Alzolay gave up a game-tying solo home run to the first batter he encountered in the ninth inning, leading to a loss in extra innings for the Cubs. This marked the first of five blown saves for the 29-year-old this season. He successfully converted only four out of nine save opportunities, finishing with a 1-4 record and a 4.67 ERA.
By the end of April, his difficulties escalated to the point where he was no longer closing games.
Although Counsell had previously expressed confidence that Alzolay would “get us big outs this year,” he only managed to play through the May 12 game in Pittsburgh before being placed on the 15-day injured list (with a transfer to the 60-day IL happening on June 2). The initial diagnosis of a flexor strain gave the Cubs some hope that rest and rehabilitation would suffice.
At the end of May, Alzolay moved his rehab to Arizona while still in a two-week shutdown period, eventually starting a throwing progression. Despite the team noting that progress was slow, he advanced to throwing bullpens in July and made his first rehab appearance in the Arizona Complex League on July 19.
His second rehab outing followed just four days later in the ACL, and he pitched for Triple-A Iowa on July 27. However, he didn’t recover well from that outing, according to Counsell, leading him to return to Chicago for evaluation. After discussions with several specialists, it was determined that Alzolay would require some form of arm surgery, ultimately resulting in the decision for Tommy John surgery.
“He put in a significant effort to return and dedicated a lot of time to trying to pitch this year,” Counsell remarked. “In the end, he did his best, but it wasn’t feasible. Now he needs to get this fixed, go through rehabilitation, and get strong to pitch again.”
This setback impacts not just the team on the field and in the clubhouse for the remainder of this season, but could also have ramifications for the entire next season.
Alzolay signed with the Cubs in 2013 while in Venezuela and made his major league debut on June 20, 2019. He will have two additional years of team control (arbitration eligible) following the 2024 season.
