Mitch Harris Faces Long Odds, Again

ST. LOUIS—Never tell righthander Mitch Harris the odds.

When he made his big league debut in 2015 he became the first Navy product to do so in nearly a century. Now the 31-year-old reliever strives to join an even smaller group.

Harris suffered a ligament tear in his right elbow, but when he emerged from surgery he learned that he did not need Tommy John surgery. A relatively new procedure, one that has been used on just three professional pitchers to date, repaired the tear and offered Harris a chance at an accelerated return.

The procedure, called “primary repair,” was performed by St. Louis-based orthopedic surgery Dr.George Paletta.

“I had nothing to lose,” Harris said, repeating a phrase he has used before in his career. “If I would have had Tommy John, I probably would not be standing here. My whole thing is, I’m going to play as long as I can play. I think that was the tough part to hear at first: ‘Hey, this could be it.’ ”

A 13th-round pick in 2008, Harris knew it could be years before he would be available to the Cardinals because of his military commitment. In fact, he missed his first four pro seasons.

He threw his first pro pitch in 2013 at age 27, and from there Harris knew he had to move swiftly to reach the majors at all. He advanced from high Class A Palm Beach to Triple-A Memphis in 2014, then made a strong impression at spring training in 2015. St. Louis called him up that April.

Harris recorded a 3.67 ERA in 26 relief appearances in 2015, but by the end of the season his elbow had started to loosen on him. By spring he was sure something was wrong.

Harris was eligible for “primary repair” because his ligament was torn at the bone, but overall it had enough integrity to heal in place. The surgery used a tape structure to build a scaffold for the ligament as it heals.

A Tommy John reconstruction of the ligament would have cost Harris 12 months. The repair gave him a chance to be ready for spring.

REDBIRD CHIRPS

• Lefthander Marco Gonzales, who had Tommy John surgery in 2016, expects to be ready to face hitters in March.

• Jordan Schafer will come to big league camp to work as both an outfielder and lefthanded reliever.

— Derrick Goold covers the Cardinals for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch