Jose Leclerc to have Tommy John surgery

Jose Leclerc will have Tommy John surgery, the Texas Rangers announced today. The righthanded relief pitcher will presumably be out at least until June, 2022, as a result.

This is a big blow, but not an unsurprising one. Leclerc was reported last week to be dealing with elbow soreness that the team expected to sideline him for a significant length of time, and that’s one of those announcements which is usually made when they are thinking a damaged UCL will require Tommy John surgery.

Leclerc, 27, is in the third year of a 4 year, $14.75 million contract extension with a pair of team options which potentially keeps him under team control through 2024. He’s slated to make $5.25 million next year, then has options at $6 million and $6.25 million under the two options. Those dollar figures are low enough that if Leclerc comes back healthy, there’s a good likelihood the 2023 option gets picked up.

Leclerc had a dominant 2018 season that saw him put up a 1.56 ERA in 57.2 IP with a 1.89 FIP. He appeared to be on the way to establishing himself as one of the top relievers in baseball, but he had a 4.33 ERA and 3.59 FIP in 70 games in 2019, then missed most of 2020 due to a torn shoulder muscle.