Brody Bumila has a UCL injury, but how much will that affect his draft status?
Brody Bumila was home on Thursday, hard at work, spirits high.
The possibility of another elbow surgery was real, but he said he wasn’t concerned.
“It’s just a scar on my body,” he said.
On Monday, representatives for the towering Bishop Feehan star revealed to MLB teams he was dealing with an ulnar collateral ligament injury in his left elbow. Bumila did not pitch as a junior after a UCL injury and internal brace surgery.
After mixing pitching arm rehab and a state championship basketball season, he reached new heights on the hill in his senior spring. He regularly hit triple-digits on the radar gun and rose as high as No. 19 on MLB.com’s list of draft prospects.
His velocity dropped at the end of Feehan’s run to the baseball state finals, but Bumila pointed to fatigue.
“I didn’t think I was dealing with [a UCL injury],” he said, speaking by phone from Raynham. “I didn’t really have any pain. I bet it was just way too much throwing this year. And then just not being able to get a full rehab because of basketball probably hurt, too. But I wouldn’t have done it any other way.
“It was a risk I was willing to take, and I took it, and I’m fine with it.”
His approach to draft day is straightforward: “I have a [signing bonus] number, and if I get that number, cool,” he said. “If I don’t get that number, it’s fine. I can go to the best college in the country.”
In the era of name, image, and likeness, at a big school like the University of Texas, he stands to do quite well financially.
Whether or not he has Tommy John surgery — to be determined after the draft — the lefthander with the mesmerizing measurables needs no modern medical miracle to save his career.
About a third of major-league pitchers have had it, as have youth pitchers as young as 14.
Depending on what his new MLB organization says, the 18-year-old Bumila might become the latest.
‘A rite of passage’
Lucas Giolito can emphasize.
The former Red Sox, now with the Padres, has spent a decade in MLB. He was an All-Star with the White Sox (2019) and sat out an entire season with an injury (2024, before debuting for Boston). He is currently rehabbing an elbow injury in San Diego.
In 2012, he was a hard-throwing, 6-foot-6-inch righthander out of Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles. He entered his senior year hitting 100 miles per hour on the radar gun. He was committed to UCLA, but was widely considered a top-three draft pick.
Until his third start, against Mission Hills Bishop Alemany. It was a chilly day. He felt off. His velocity was down. In the seventh inning, he felt a tug on his elbow.
“Immediately, it was, ‘Oh [expletive],’ ” Giolito recalled Thursday via phone, speaking while driving to Petco Park.
During a mound visit, in front of “like a million scouts,” Harvard-Westlake coach Matt LaCour came up with what Giolito called a “genius, on-the-fly decision” to calm the waters.
“He came out and we’re covering our mouths: ‘Yo, what happened?’ ‘I don’t know, but it’s not good,’ ” Giolito said. “Immediately, he said, ‘Limp off the field. Just do it. As of right now, you pulled your hamstring.’ ”
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A few days later, renowned surgeon Neal ElAttrache diagnosed him with a UCL sprain. Giolito’s advisor told MLB teams that his high school season was over. His draft status was a mystery. Even worse, his team, a state title contender, lost its ace.
“I’m not going to lie, it was devastating,” Giolito said. “I was crying at home for a long time after that.”
He was gobsmacked when the Nationals, picking 16th, chose him. He also hoped to avoid major surgery until his first day at Washington’s spring training complex, then in Viera, Fla.
“The medical director said very bluntly, ‘You’re going to need Tommy John, it’s just a matter of when,” Giolito said. “Woah! OK, got it.”
In his first rookie ball start, he blew out his elbow. But at that point, he wasn’t anxious. He was in a pro system. As a high schooler, he watched the team guide former uber-prospect Stephen Strasburg through his elbow issues.
“I knew I was in great hands,” Giolito said.
His “new elbow,” as he called it, held up for nearly a dozen years.
Tommy John has “basically become a rite of passage at this point,” Giolito said. “If you go an entire 15-year career without it, you’re an outlier. You’re a unicorn. For most people, throwing — especially overhand, at high velocity — is not good for your body.”
What do MLB teams think?
That, according to an MLB scouting executive, makes projecting pitchers an incredibly difficult task.
“The scouts work hard to get all these medicals for us, and then there’s updates on the medicals,” said the executive, who asked not to be named. “The medical staff have their own jobs to do with the major leaguers and minor leaguers. They also have a team tasked with reviewing the medicals.
“When you’re removed, you don’t get a chance to meet the player, it’s really hard. It’s like looking through a pinhole.”
Teams will likely have differing opinions on his injury, the recovery, and how that might affect his draft slot.
What’s clear: Bumila, given his profile, might not wait too long on Saturday.
“Some teams might not be scared,” the scouting executive said. “There were plenty of guys taken knowing that Tommy John was likely around the corner, and there are plenty of guys whose medicals weren’t that great that ended up being perfectly fine. Every pitcher has had some [injured list] stints and surgeries.”
While shoulder tears can be career-threatening, elbow injuries typically are not, noted former Red Sox head trainer Mike Reinold. The elbow is a simpler joint than a shoulder.
Reinold, who worked with Bumila this season at his Champion Physical Therapy and Performance center in Waltham, said he wasn’t having elbow trouble this spring. Bumila, to his eye, was worn down by an exhausting year.
“There’s room for a ton of optimism,” Reinold said. “If that’s how he’s going to pitch with that current MRI, imagine how he’s going to pitch in the future.
“Every player carries a risk. With a special talent like that, the reward could be high. He’s a 6-foot-9 lefty who throws 100. Those are rare.”
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