Cody Anderson opts for Tommy John surgery, will miss 2017 season

Cleveland Indians pitcher Cody Anderson will opt for Tommy John surgery to repair a strained UCL and mild flexor strain, MLB.com Jordan Bastian is reporting. Anderson, who was initially diagnosed with a sprained UCL on March 10, sought out a second opinion and decided to be out for a year to repair the injury, rather than have it linger for several seasons down the road.

Anderson burst onto the scene in 2015 with a 0.89 ERA over his first four starts. While his numbers did even out, and his low strikeout-to-walk ratio came back to hurt him, he still remained as a serviceable bullpen arm for the Tribe last season and he was in line to do the same in 2017 before these injury setbacks.

With Anderson on the mend for the foreseeable future, Michael Clevinger figures to be the Indians’ new “sixth starter,” as depth for the rotation. Terry Francona already confirmed earlier in spring training that Clevinger would not be looked at as a reliever heading into the season; if he does not make the rotation out of spring, he will be sent to work as a starter in Triple-A Columbus.