Ole Miss ace Hunter Elliott done for the year, undergoes Tommy John surgery
What felt like the inevitable outcome nobody wanted to acknowledge out loud arrived all the same this week for Ole Miss baseball and ace pitcher Hunter Elliott.
Elliott underwent Tommy John surgery this week The Ole Miss Spirit has learned, shutting him down officially for the remainder of the 2023 season.
News of Elliott going under the knife ends a season-long attempt to return to the mound after a season-opening start against Delaware. Following the February 17 outing Elliott felt discomfort and tightness in his left forearm.
After seeing and talking with several orthopedic specialists the consensus was for Elliott to be shut down from throwing for three weeks then begin a throwing program to try and heal a sprained UCL without surgery.
Elliott returned on April 22 against LSU but his second start of the season lasted one-plus inning, throwing 49 pitches and giving up five runs off two hits while walking five LSU batters and striking out three more.
All in all Elliott threw a total of six innings in his two starts this season and finished with an earned run average of 10.50.
“After further examination, it was decided that Hunter would need Tommy John surgery. He had the surgery done yesterday, everything went well and he is recovering,” Ole Miss said in a statement released on Thursday.
A timetable of recovery from Tommy John surgery is commonly up to a year, which would put Elliott out until roughly May 2024.
Ole Miss is without their top pitcher for however long the 2023 campaign lasts. The Rebels (24-21, 5-16 Southeastern Conference) are at Missouri this weekend, starting their series on Thursday and in need of a second-straight series win.
Another late-season push is underway to get Ole Miss back to Hoover and the SEC Tournament later this month. Series against the Tigers, Auburn and Alabama wrap up the regular season.
Looking to next year Elliott will be out of action for at least the first couple months of the season, unless his recovery is closer to the eight to 10 month timetables some have experienced.
Elliott was an All-American after his 2022 freshman campaign. He threw 80 innings with a 2.70 ERA and was the winning pitcher in Ole Miss’ national title-clinching win over Oklahoma last June.
