Padres prospect Anderson Espinoza has second Tommy John surgery

Gabrielle McMillen

Padres prospect Anderson Espinoza has second Tommy John surgery image

Padres prospect Anderson Espinoza has experienced another big setback.

The 21-year-old right-hander — rated the No. 13 overall prospect by MLB.com — underwent a second Tommy John surgery after his elbow issues continued, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Esponiza will miss the rest of the 2019 season and likely a large chunk of 2020, too, per the report.

“It’s brutal,” Padres general manager A.J. Preller said. “He’s put in a ton of time and effort. He put a lot work into it and obviously having to redo the surgery and potentially miss another year … he’s handled it as good as you can. I’m proud of him. He’s staying positive. He knows he’s got a long road in front of him and he’s going to work hard at it again.

“We’ve had a lot of conversations explaining the belief we have in him. It’s not an easy process.”

Espinoza underwent his first Tommy John surgery in August 2017 and appeared on track to return to the mound at the end of April or beginning of May.

He was assigned to Single-A Lake Elsinore, but said he started to feel discomfort in his elbow. It appears that the ligament-transplant graft in his elbow blew out, requiring additional reconstruction.

He last pitched in a game in 2016, when he went 1-3 with a 4.73 ERA, 28 strikeouts and a 1.42 WHIP in 32 1/3 innings at full-season Single-A.

It's a huge blow for Espinoza, who was signed out of Venezuela in 2015 by the Red Sox but was then traded to the Padres as part of the Drew Pomeranz deal.

Gabrielle McMillen