ANAHEIM — Blake Snell will undergo surgery on Tuesday to remove the loose bodies in his elbow.
Snell was scratched from his scheduled start on Friday and placed on the injured list when he experienced pain while throwing Thursday afternoon.
The typical recovery time from this type of surgery is two to three months – the timeline Dodgers closer Edwin Diaz is currently working with after having loose bodies removed from his elbow on April 22. But Snell’s return could potentially be on the shorter end of that scale if the same arthroscopic procedure used recently on Tarik Skubal can be used on Snell’s elbow.
Skubal had his bone chip removed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache using a surgical device called the “NanoNeedle.” It allowed ElAttrache to arthroscopically penetrate the elbow and remove the loose bodies with less damage to surrounding tissue.
ElAttrache is also going to perform the surgery on Snell next week and the ‘NanoNeedle’ is an option, according to a source. ElAttrache will determine whether he can use that based on using the arthroscope to identify the specific location of the loose body and how much it is integrated into the ligaments.
Skubal started throwing lightly about a week after his procedure.
“It’s supposed to be a lot quicker recovery, so we’re encouraged about that,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of the potential procedure. “We expect him certainly back this season.”