'Heart ripped out of my chest': Tommy John surgery devastating for Zach Eflin
Zach Eflin underwent Tommy John surgery on his right elbow April 8, eight days after leaving his first start of the season in the fourth inning.
BALTIMORE — Zach Eflin did not come this far to go right back to the starting line. That’s why, when he felt his elbow seize and his extension vanish not quite four innings into his 2026 season, what came next hit even harder. "Really," he says, "just felt like my heart was ripped out of my chest.
" Eflin underwent Tommy John surgery to reconstruct his elbow April 8, eight days after leaving his first start of the season in the fourth inning. His 2026 season will consist of just 11 outs recorded, as he undergoes the grueling rehab thousands of pitchers before him endured. Yet this elbow reconstruction marks Eflin’s second major surgery in eight months: In August, he underwent a lumbar microdiscectomy, a back procedure that was to sideline him four to eight months.
It was brutal timing: Eflin was set to hit the free agent market in just two months. At the time of his back surgery, he expressed an interest in returning to the Baltimore Orioles , even as he faced major uncertainty undergoing a major procedure at 31. Yet the Orioles made the reunion happen, signing him in December to a one-year deal that guarantees him $10 million – $2 million coming on a buyout of a $25 million 2027 option.
With trade and free agent acquisitions Shane Baz and Chris Bassitt aboard, Eflin figured to start the year on the IL as he recovered from back surgery. Yet he startled the club with his health and performance in spring and cracked the opening rotation. "I never felt better in my career before," says Eflin Sunday, April 12 in his first public comments since getting injured.