Former Terrier and Junior National Team LHP Jordan Woods (Oakville, Ont.) signed with the Kansas City Royals July 24, 2022, had Tommy John surgery and made his pro debut May 8, 2024 … a span of 654 days.

May 14, 2024

By Tyson Shushkewich

Canadian Baseball Network

With a commitment to East Tennessee State on the table, Jordan Woods seemed destined to head south in the fall of 2022.

A product of the Terriers and the Junior National Team, Woods (Oakville, Ont.) saw things take a turn.

Before the 2022 draft, Woods underwent Tommy John surgery and switched his sights from college to pro ball in the blink of an eye.

After the July draft, he signed as a free agent with the Kansas City Royals, had elbow surgery and then rehabbed. And rehabbed. And rehabbed. He did not pitch in 2022 and did not pitch during 2023. Woods made his return to live action with his first in-game pitches Thursday night in Surprise, Ariz.

Woods started for the rookie league Royals against the Guardians in Arizona Complex League play. As far as pro debuts go, Woods had an outing to remember. Through four innings, the lefty allowed one hit and a walk, while striking out seven — all seven whiffs were swinging. Woods, 20, threw 64 pitches, with 65.6% strikes. He dominated and played a major part in the Royals’ 6-1 rout of their AL Central rivals farm team.

“I felt lucky and grateful to be back on the mound,” Woods told the Canadian Baseball Network. “During my rehab, there were a lot of days where I didn’t know if I would be able to throw again at the same level as before surgery ... there were a lot of long days of grinding away to get better.

“When I stepped on that mound, I wanted to set the tone and give myself a chance to succeed, avoid walks and give the opposing team something to hit while keeping them off balance with my pitches.”

Looking back on his lengthy journey, Woods said: “There was a lot of moving parts post Tommy John surgery, I had been speaking with some teams before the draft. I let them all know what was going on ... I was up front about what had happened.

“Some teams expressed worry and pulled out but I felt it was only right to let teams know about my status.”

Woods was signed by Royals scout Adam Stern (London, Ont.)

The southpaw did not hear his name called within the 20-round draft. A commitment to Johnson City, Tenn. was on the table as he headed towards rehab. Plans changed shortly after the draft, with Woods signing with Kansas City as an undrafted free agent to a max bonus that wouldn’t count against the Royals’ draft bonus pool.

Asked about the decision, Woods outlined the bigger goals in mind for his development, saying “Given my situation, the opportunity alone to turn pro is huge. That opportunity was a major reason I decided to sign over the college because so many guys never get a chance to sign a contract like that even after being in a college program.

“Secondly, I was impressed with the Royals’ facilities and their commitment to my rehab and development. The facilities and staff on-site are so aware of the process and rehab helped change my mindset and eased my decision to turn pro while getting back to form as quickly but safely as possible.”

When consulting case studies and players that have undergone similar procedures over the years, the average recovery rate can range anywhere from 12-to-18 months depending on the player and how he reacted to rehab and throwing again.

The nature of the procedure is unique depending on the severity of the damage to the ulnar collateral ligament on the inside of the elbow. The normalized procedure is to replace the tendon with another tendon, usually from the forearm or hamstring to stabilize the elbow to bring back a full range of motion. However, there is an adapted procedure being used as of late that involves an internal brace rather than a full tendon replacement to increase recovery times.

For Woods, he underwent the full replacement and didn’t throw in an affiliated game until this past week.

“The first major milestone in my rehab process was throwing on the field and playing catch, and that was about six months in,” said Woods. “It’s probably a little later in the development side compared to other players but rehab is not a smooth process in general. Everybody is different. But getting to that first bullpen was about 2 1/2 months after that initial throwing date, was a big milestone for me.

“I unfortunately had another setback in my rehab process that delayed things a little longer but every day I kept building up to get back to throwing in game situations.”

There was a time if a player felt a shooting pain in his elbow, it meant the end of careers.

The procedure is named “Tommy John surgery” because the Dodger lefty was unable to pitch due to pain in his elbow during the 1974 campaign after an outing against the Montreal Expos. Dr. Frank Jobe replaced John’s UCL with a tendon from his right forearm. The procedure was the first of its kind and while the rehab was long, Tommy John returned to the Dodgers rotation in 1976. The procedure allowed John to pitch until 1989 season at age 46 years.

It has been a long road for the Royals prospect to return to the mound again, and the future likely will see things at a controlled pace in terms of this season.

“Just taking things slow and still building up after such a long layoff,” said Woods. “Keep working one outing at a time and improving upon the last outing to stay comfortable and get my confidence up after the setbacks. It feels great to be pitching again.”

It seems like everywhere you look across the majors, pitchers across every level are heading to the sidelines with an elbow-related injuries. From some of the game’s brightest stars like Atlanta Braves Spencer Strider to prospects like Blue Jays LHP Brandon Barriera, Tommy John surgery is impacting teams across the league, with some pitchers having to undergo the procedure multiple times in their quest to play pro ball.

While many of us won’t go through a procedure of this nature, when asked about what advice or words of wisdom he would pass on to younger players faced with the difficult recovery process, Woods paused for a moment to reflect on his rehab history.

“To any players facing the same situation, I’d say take every day as it comes and not look too far ahead into the future,” Woods said. “Trust the process. There will be moments where it gets tough and you will be tested mentally but try not to look too far ahead into the future and go out and have a good day, every day.”