The Phillies have announced that second round pick Andrew Knapp will have Tommy John surgery on his right elbow (as per @jnorris427). The recovery time for a position player is closer to 6 months of recovery which would have him able to throw by mid to late April. I would suspect that Knapp will be spending spring practices working on his receiving and start the year as the Clearwater DH while slowly working back into the catching role.
This certainly is not good news for a top pick as Knapp is far from a finished product behind the plate, but this should only set him back a couple of months on the defensive side and shouldn’t push back his hitting. The risk is that lost time behind the plate puts more questions in his ability to stick there.
Phuture Phillies 
Knapp and Joseph can get very close….
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6 months lost puts him at risk at sticking there? I might slow down his progress but not impede.
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He’s a college kid, that changes they dynamics. He can’t afford the development path of a high school kid.
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Yes he can. It’s the same path. He sits for 6 months and resumes play. If the surgery affects his throwing then yes, it impacts his ability to stick at catcher, but if he comes back like most pitchers do with TJ then I’d say it will not jeopardize his ability to stick.
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The fundamental point that you miss is that college kids need to rocket through the system to become major league regulars, and even a slight disruption of that advance can hurt their chances of making it.
He needs playing time at catcher to develop the skills he needs to stick there. We’re talking about the possibility that he becomes a major league regular. I’d happily agree that Knapp has plenty of time if his goal is to be a major league backup, but the Phillies (and he, I am sure, and the fans) hope for more. As a college kid, the clock on that is ticking. He needs to follow the Cody Asche path, not the one in six million Darin Ruf path. If his catching skills aren’t major league ready by (say) 2016, then his chances of a career as a starting major league catcher drop to near zero. And cutting six months off that much more limited development time (as compared to a high school kid) reduces his chances of sticking at catcher.
Cody Asche ended his second minor league season in AA. That may never have been in the cards for Knapp, but is even less likely now.
it would be different if his catching skills were more advanced.
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It’s the offseason. If he misses significant playing time during the sesaon then I would agree.
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That’s the issue, I agree. It sounds to me that he will miss significant playing time AT CATCHER during the season. (And pre-season counts somewhat for that also.) If he doesn’t. agree that it is likely not a big deal.
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Meh, I think you’re taking age-to-level progression a little too literally. The reason that the vast majority of guys who don’t rocket through a system, as say Cody Asche has, become major league regulars is because they weren’t good enough to be major league regulars. I know that’s kind of stating the obvious, but sometimes numbers are what they are for reasons not necessarily borne of the numbers themselves. That is to say, most college draftees who become major league regulars are in AA by 22, not because if they didn’t reach AA by 22 they wouldn’t be major league regulars, but because that is the natural progression of most college draftees who become major league regulars. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, and while it can be useful in a vacuum (as in, if you’re picking between 2 players one is 22 in AA, one is 22 in Low A, you should pick the guy in AA) it’s not necessarily useful to assess individual players. That is to say, if Andrew Knapp is going to be a Major League regular, I don’t think this injury will have a material effect on that eventuality.
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Agree with that assessment. And when it is a position like catcher there can be a longer period of development due to the nature and added responsibilities of the position.
Cameron Rupp is an example of the longer then natural progression. IMO, Buster Posey types are the exceptions to the rule.
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Missed time is missed time. Some people have an idea that a player who falls behind because of injury should be evaluated more kindly when looking at age/level. I would say that, if anything, the opposite is true.
Look, there is some truth to the point that catchers are different. But looking down the list of regular catchers, most of them – college kids or not – were regulars by the time they were 24 or younger. There are a few exceptions, more than for most positions. But, everything else being equal, a player – even a catcher – who is major league ready at (say) 25 or 26 or 27 is less likely to get a shot at a regular job than a player who is younger. Overcoming serious injuries is always a challenge for a prospect. Many, many prospects who never made it might well have done so but for the injury. It’s that much more of a challenge for a college kid who needs as much work defensively as Knapp..
If he misses a month or two (at catcher), probably not a huge deal. If he misses the season, as some anon down thread speculated, his chance of being a major league regular plummets.
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Was this the injury he initially had when the drafted him? If I remember correctly they purposely didn’t catch him much this season due to an injury.
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He was diagnosed in July with a ligament strain which came from overuse. He didn’t catch for about a month and then caught probably two out of three days for the rest of the season. His MRI in July showed no structural damage and he didn’t say anything to me about pain or discomfort over te final couple weeks. In fact his pop times were down between 1.85 and 1.9 during the last homestand of the season.
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Gotcha. Thanks for the info, Mitch.
What were you impressions of him behind the plate (granted, in SSS)?
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I think he’s got a good understanding of how to call a game and to get pitchers to throw their best pitch in the right situation. He’s a little stiff at times behind the plate and doesn’t frame the ball particularly well. But he’s athletic, creates a good target, gets down on the ball well, quick release to second. He’s got a good base to build from, it’s just going to be about getting reps.
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Thanks again. Promising player.
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Fortunately, the dev career path for catchers has evolved into a longer process then the days of the fast burners of the past. The Philies in particular seem to like to keep their catching prospects longer in the process. Looking at Buster Posey, he had approx 4.25 years of development below the MLB level – three years at FSU and 1.25 years in the SF system, and he is considered one the fast burners at that position.
I do not think this will be monumentally disruptive to Knapp’s career progression.
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I think the most unfortunate thing is that while non-pitchers can come back at a quicker rate it won’t be as true for a catcher. I think Knapp will likely be able to be back and DHing for month(s) before he can actually catch and for Knapp it’s not his bat that needs development it’s becoming more comfortable and better behind the plate.
You don’t have a catcher come up to the bigs unless they are pretty close to developed in their behind the plate skills. That is not one position that you want significant ‘on the job’ training in the bigs because it impacts your entire pitching staff.
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The word I got was that he would be out most, if not all of next season.
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Phillies like drafting Knapps with bad arms
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🙂 Well done Nick
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But only in the 2nd rounds.
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Being a strength and conditioning coach working mostly with baseball players I look at this from that angle. Knapp will now lose a solid off season where he would have spent a lot of time getting stronger, getting conditioning in and becoming more explosive. He’ll be able to work on strengthening up his base however (believe it or not) upper body injuries limit work you can do on your lower body. Knapp isn’t exactly a big kid, I’ve seen 6’1 180 (around draft time) and I’m sure that went down as he played and adjusted to professional baseball. Anyways this is one of th first things I thought of and am disappointed about.
PS I found a website that shows the rehab done following a TJS and also shows the actually surgery (pretty cool) not sure if I’m allowed to post it. It’s nothing I’m affiliated with just a site I’ve come upon and enjoy the material on it (mostly strength and conditioning info) can I post it (for those who want to check out the actually surgery and rehab afterwards)?
A side note about TJS . . Bend your wrist inward (flexsion) toward your forearm. You’ll see a ligament (most of us have this ligament but not all of us) kinda come thru your skin. This is the ligament that they remove to replace your UCL. Pretty cool.
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A few weeks ago, I read an article in which Joe Jordan said that he could not believe that Knapp was still available in the 2nd round. Elbow problems might have been why the other clubs backed off.
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