The one name baseball players hear way too much

For the hundreds of baseball players mentioned while compiling a high school season preview, there's one particular name you never want to hear.

No offense to Tommy John but, well, the name's Tommy John. And this preseason, his dreadful name was mentioned far too often when it came to area teams and their injured players.

Three players projected to contribute greatly to their respective pitching staffs - Lake Park's Peter Spear, York's Tyler Sill and Hinsdale South's Joe Begel - have been lost for the season because of Tommy John.

Of course, that kind of "name" blame game isn't fair. So let's digress for a moment.

Despite enjoying a 26-year Major League Baseball career that featured 288 wins and an impressive 3.34 ERA, John, unfortunately, now is known more for representing a medical procedure.

John "popularized" a form of elbow surgery where the ulnar collateral ligament is reconstructed by transferring a tendon from another part of the body to the elbow. In 1974 John became the first professional athlete to successfully undergo the surgery and notched three 20-win seasons in its wake.

Regardless of that historic comeback, though, pitchers for 25 years have striven to avoid the name of Tommy John. Like the plague.

After undergoing the same procedure, Sill, Begel and Spear will face about a year of rehabilitation before they'll be able to pitch again. Their absences will leave a major void in the landscape of area pitching this season.

Spear, who played varsity for Lake Park as a sophomore last year, is the 17th-rated junior in the state, according to the Prep Baseball Report. Begel, a third-year varsity player for Hinsdale South, is ranked 47th in the senior class.

Sill, among DuPage-area victory leaders as a junior last season, went 8-2 with a 3.44 ERA for York.

It's a shame, especially for the two seniors, that we won't get to see how much they might have improved during the off-season. According to several studies, the trio represents a growing trend where Tommy John surgery is being performed more often in teenagers.

The good news is that there's encouragement beyond just the hope of a comeback. There's actually the hope of creating an even stronger arm than before the surgery.

If you look at the roster of professional baseball players who have endured the surgery and rehabilitation, the names are stunning. Current MLB players who made successful comebacks include Cubs starting pitcher Ryan Dempster, former Cub and current Indians reliever Kerry Wood, Yankees closer Mariano Rivera and starter A.J. Burnett, and Red Sox starter John Smoltz.

In many of those cases, the player came back stronger than before the surgery. It's a far cry from 1974 when John was given a 1 percent chance at a comeback.

In fact there are bizarre cases of parents wanting to have Tommy John surgery performed on their healthy kids with the aim of a stronger arm emerging.

But enough about building The Bionic Baseball Player.

In terms of Begel, Sill and Spear, the expectation is that they haven't pitched their last baseball game. Judging by the decades worth of history, they're all likely to be back on the mound.

Spear, the only junior of the group, has one more year to come with the Lancers. You can only imagine how important that senior season will be to the young man.

Here's hoping it's a healthy one.

kschmit@dailyherald.com