Chicago White Sox's Giolito can relate to Dunning's elbow issue
The news could have been worse.
After making an early exit from Saturday's start with Class AA Birmingham due to right-elbow discomfort, promising pitching prospect Dane Dunning was examined Wednesday in Chicago by Dr. Nik Verma, a White Sox team physician.
An MRI revealed a moderate elbow sprain that presently will not require surgery, according to the Sox.
Dunning - a combined 6-3 with a 2.71 ERA and 100 strikeouts in 86⅓ innings with Birmingham and high A Winston-Salem - is heading for the disabled list. The 23-year-old righty starter will be on a rest and rehabilitation program for 6-8 weeks.
After that, Dunning is scheduled to begin a throwing program.
White Sox starter Lucas Giolito knows what Dunning is going through.
A standout pitcher at Harvard-Westlake High School in Los Angeles, Giolito was taking the mound in front of packs of professional and collegiate scouts his senior year.
In his "third or fourth" start of the season, Giolito said he wasn't feeling right.
"My velocity was down that day," the 6-foot-6 righty recalled. "My stuff wasn't as good. I just kind of grinded through the game and once it got into the sixth, seventh inning, I was not feeling that great.
"One pitch I threw, it wasn't like shooting pain or anything, but my elbow didn't feel right. I threw another one and I was like, 'OK, something is wrong.' "
Giolito had the elbow checked out, and an MRI revealed a sprained UCL (ulnar collateral ligament).
Like Dunning, he was immediately shut down and combined rest and rehab with platelet-rich plasma injections.
Even though Giolito missed the remainder of his high school senior season, he was the Washington Nationals' first-round draft pick in 2012. He signed, and he will never forget his first professional appearance with the Nats.
"I threw a pitch and I heard a pop," Giolito said. "I blew it out completely and ended up getting Tommy John surgery."
While down by the serious arm injury, Giolito was far from out.
"It wasn't devastating because I felt fortunate that I already signed," he said. "The Nationals were a great organization; they had a great medical staff and they were great with Tommy John rehab.
"It was kind of in the back of my head. I kind of knew it was coming just because my arm in that whole rehab process never felt great. It finally went and it was like, 'Let's get the surgery done, get strong again and get going.' That's what wound up happening and I've felt great ever since."
Dunning and the White Sox are hoping to avoid Giolito's fate, but pitchers are coming back better than ever from the reconstructive elbow surgery.
"I learned a lot about arm health in the rehab process, a lot of things I didn't know before," Giolito said. "You trust the process, make sure you take care of whatever exercises need to be done, even though they can become kind of boring and mundane.
"Stay on top of it and strengthen everything around the elbow so you're not using that part of your arm as much. I learned so much going through the process, before the surgery and after the surgery.
"I was like, 'Wow, my (scapulas) are not strong. My rotator cuff is not strong; it's not where it needs to be.' So I started hammering out all the little exercises that I never even knew about when I was an amateur. I ended up learning a ton and became much stronger because of it."