Down goes a Braves' pitcher with Tommy John surgery (surprise!)

I don't mean to make light of McKirahan's season ending. Really. I'm sure he's a good kid, other than that whole PED suspension a year ago. But this is the second time he will have Tommy John surgery for a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow, the first time coming in 2012. He's 26 years old. He probably wasn't going to win a bullpen spot.

The Braves aren't the only team to accumulate pitchers who have had -- or are destined to have -- season-ending elbow surgery. It just seems most gravitate to Atlanta. Of the Braves' 39 pitchers in camp, at least nine have had T.J. surgery: McKirahan, Manny Banuelos, Jason Grilli, Casey Kelly, Paco Rodriguez, Shae Simmons, Arodys Vizcaino, Dan Winkler and Chris Withrow.

Several past Braves have had the surgery, including Kris Medlen, Brandon Beachy, Peter Moylan, Jonny Venters and Eric O'Flaherty.

"It's amazing," Braves general manager John Coppolella said when asked about the accumulation of T.J. surgeries in baseball. "The craziest point for me was  a couple of years ago when Medlen and Beachy went down back-to-back days (before the 2014 season). That's a body blow. But it's not just Tommy John. It's everything. The Dodger just lost Brett Anderson for five months with a (bulging) disc in his back. There's always something – shoulders, elbow, back. The level of attrition with pitching is staggering. That's why, with every move we have made, we tried to get back more and more arms."

Coppolella said McKirahan can "still has a bright future." I'm not sure if he was being serious. In addition to the two surgeries, McKirahan was suspended 80 games in 2015 after testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. He's not exactly setting a great pace for himself.

I asked Coppolella if he just assumes a certain percentage of pitching prospects will have a significant injury. He said former long-time Braves scouting director Paul Snyder said, "If you have eight pitching prospects, you hope two of them hit. So it’s the same. It's just bad luck sometimes."

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