ArticleJSES international2026
Early-career ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction in elite baseball pitchers: impact on professional career performance, longevity, and earning potential.
Article in JSES international, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Management of Ulnar Collateral Ligament Injuries of the Elbow.Current reviews in musculoskeletal medicine · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: The 15-to-19-year-old age group of baseball pitchers has an annual ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction (UCL-R) surgical incidence that is higher than any other demographic, and recent trends among elite pitchers show steady declines in average age of first UCL-R. There is a paucity of literature evaluating the impact of early-career UCL-R on an elite pitcher's professional career, including performance, career longevity, and career earnings. Methods: Demographic, high school showcase, professional performance, injury data, and earnings from pitchers selected in the first 5 rounds of the Major League Baseball (MLB) draft (2011-2020) were gathered from publicly available databases. One-way between-groups analysis of variance for continuous variables comparing 3 UCL-R groups (early, middle, and late career) with a control group (no UCL-R) was performed, and multivariable linear regression for outcomes significant upon analysis of variance was conducted. Standard deviations (SDs) of ±1 SD were used to define early, middle, and late career UCL-R subgroups after normal distribution was confirmed (Shapiro-Wilk test Results: Of 851 pitchers, 281 (33.0%) had undergone primary UCL-R at manuscript preparation. Compared to early-career UCL-R pitchers, median MLB career earnings (adjusted for inflation) were significantly higher for middle- ( Conclusion: Early-career UCL-R may be associated with lower MLB career earnings compared to middle-to-late-career UCL-R surgery in a cohort of high-round MLB draft pitchers. In addition, prolonged recovery time following early-career UCL-R may result in an increased mental health burden that warrants further investigation.
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Registered trials
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