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Texas Tech Ace Steven Gingery To Miss Season Due To Elbow Injury

By Matthew Conner

STILLWATER, OK - SEPTEMBER 25: The Texas Tech Red Raiders flag flies outside the stadium before the game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys September 25, 2014 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The Cowboys defeated the Red Raiders 45-35. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)
STILLWATER, OK - SEPTEMBER 25: The Texas Tech Red Raiders flag flies outside the stadium before the game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys September 25, 2014 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The Cowboys defeated the Red Raiders 45-35. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) /
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Texas Tech baseball will be without its ace Steven Gingery this season after the junior All-American suffered a torn UCL in his elbow on Saturday afternoon.

Hazy yellow clouds filled with dust have hung in the skies over Lubbock the past two days.  But they are nowhere near as dark as the clouds that hung over Dan Law Field Monday. Despite the fact that the Texas Tech baseball team is ranked in the top 5 in every national poll and is coming off of a dominant 4-game sweep of Mane to open the season, the mood surrounding the the program is understandably gloomy.

That is because on Monday, Texas Tech confirmed that its ace Steven Gingery will miss the remainder of 2018 due to a torn ligament in his pitching elbow.  The injury will require Tommy John  Surgery and likely puts Gingery on the shelf for at least a full calendar year.

The junior was a unanimous preseason All-American and Big 12 Pitcher of the Year.  In 2017, he had perhaps the best season any Red Raider pitcher has ever had.  He was 10-1 with a 1.58 ERA as he racked up Big 12 and national Pitcher of the Year awards and a slew of All-American honors.

But after only two innings, Gingery’s 2018 season is over.  Just 19 pitches into his start on Saturday, Gingery left the game with elbow discomfort which turned out to be a torn ligament.

Now, the Texas Tech baseball team must adjust its weekend rotation.  Gingery was the Saturday starter last season and his dominance in the middle game of each conference series was huge in either clinching a series win or preventing a losing streak en route to helping the Red Raiders capture the Big 12 regular season title.

Fortunately, head coach Tim Tadlock has an embarrassment of riches on his pitching staff, including another ace.  That  role now falls back on the shoulders of junior Davis Martin.

Martin was a freshman All-American in 2016 with an ERA of 2.52 and a 10-1 record.  He entered 2017 as the staff ace but was shut down for approximately two months with a shoulder injury.  Martin is now healthy and again will need to be the Red Raider’s leader on the mound.

As for who might replace Gingery, there are a number of candidates for Tadlock to sort through.  The first to get a look will likely be sophomore righty John McMillon.  The two-way player has an electric fast ball that tops out in the mid-nineties.  He was 2-0 with a 1.75 ERA last season in 25.2 innings coming almost exclusively out of the bullpen.

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Another name to watch is junior Erikson Lanning.  He made seven starts last season and overall he was 3-1 with a 3.12 ERA.  Also, junior Ryan Shetter is a starter that had a 3.71 ERA in 15 starts as a sophomore a year ago.  Between the duo of Lanning and Shetter, there is plenty of Big 12 experience and one or both may be called upon to round out the Texas Tech weekend rotation.

One other card Tadlock may be able to play is senior Dylan Dusek, who has already battled back from his own Tommy John surgery.  Dusek was 2-2 with a 3.82 ERA in 11 starts as a sophomore in 2015.  Last season, he returned after missing all of 2016 and he now can step into a number of roles for his team.

He is expected to be a bullpen piece but could be called upon as a situational starter.

"“I have the confidence to give [Tadlock] whatever he wants,” Dusek told Lubbockonline.com. “If it’s a spot start, if it’s cleaning up innings here, if it’s coming in to close a game on a Saturday night on a Big 12 weekend, if it’s filling in innings or pitching three or four innings. … Any situation, I’m ready to grab the ball and come in. I have the flexibility to do that.”"

But despite the options Tadlock has at his disposal, the loss of Gingery is the worst news the team could have received.  Now, Texas Tech baseball fans are left to wonder if they have seen the last of Gingery in the scarlet and black.  He is eligible for the MLB draft this summer and could easily be a high pick despite his injury as the prevalence of Tommy John Surgery has made big league teams comfortable with helping players recover from the once devastating procedure.

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Texas Tech baseball returns to the field Tuesday at home versus New Mexico State.  The Red Raiders then head to Texas-San Antonio for a weekend series after which we will have a much better idea of how the Red Raiders will try replace Steven Gingery.

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