Hunter Elliott and Riley Maddox are on track to rejoin Ole Miss this month
The Ole Miss baseball team is in dire need of good news right now and could be getting some in the form of bolstering its pitching staff by May.
Hunter Elliott and Riley Maddox are trending in the right direction to return sooner than later. Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco provided updates on both players progress on their respective road to recovery and returns.
Elliott has been sidelined since the opening day of the season. After pitching in the opener against Delaware on Feb. 17 Elliott felt stiffness in his arm and went for an MRI and then consulted numerous orthopedic specialists. The decision was to forego surgery at the time being and shutdown Elliott from any throwing over a three-week period.
Once that period was over Elliott began a throwing program and essentially started his season over again. A timeline provided for an Elliott return, if all the mile markers were hit in a positive manner, ws for mid-April.
That time is approaching.
“He threw a bullpen on Monday and Thursday full speed, felt great,” Bianco said of Elliott. “He’ll throw another bullpen next week and then to some hitters, live, prior to going to Starkville. Then just continue to progress.
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“If he continues to hit all his marks and feel good I would think that he would pitch that LSU weekend.”
Maddox has been a return to action that has taken nearly a year after Ole Miss lost him last spring.
The right-hander suffered an injury and underwent Tommy John surgery on May 17 of last year. For the past 11 months Maddox has been working to get back in time to be of service to the bullpen this season.
Ole Miss could use a shot in the arm for its bullpen and is on track to get some. The Rebels are coming off a fourth straight Southeastern Conference series loss and sitting at 2-10 in the SEC.
“He’s been terrific and they’ve kind of been on the same day so I’ve gotten their bullpens together,” Bianco said. “He looks great. Usually when they get to this point it’s not about pain, it’s about rhythm and pitching. Can they pitch? and he has. He’s thrown all his pitches. Fastball, slider, change(up). This week he was able to throw, in the protocol, his breaking ball at full speed. He’s looked terrific.”
If Maddox is able to hit all his checkpoints at the rate he has so far then Bianco is expected him to return by the end of the month. The series after LSU is against Georgia, which could be the time Ole Miss gets its pitching staff as full strength as it possibly can be the rest of the year.
