Pablo Sandoval’s comeback season with the San Francisco Giants has come to a premature end.
The team announced Saturday that Sandoval would undergo reconstructive elbow surgery at the start of September, ending his season and putting 2020 in jeopardy.
Pablo Sandoval will undergo reconstructive elbow surgery the first week of September, the #SFGiants announce.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) August 24, 2019
Jon Heyman of MLB Network had pointed out that this was a possibility, and it comes at a bad time for the Giants’ veteran.
Tommy John surgery looks like a real possibility for Pablo Sandoval. This is unfortunate on many levels. 1) he surely wanted to finish out his great comeback year 2) help the Giants contend and 3) play in Bochy’s final weeks managing, plus 4) he’s a free agent after year.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) August 24, 2019
Sandoval has been on the IL since August 14.
The 33-year-old saw his career fall off a cliff when he left San Francisco for Boston prior to the 2015 season. When they cut him loose in 2017, he returned to the Giants. He turned in a surprisingly strong season in 2019, hitting .269 with 14 home runs in 107 games despite nearly missing the roster. Sandoval is not an elite player at this point, but there was some pop left in his bat this season. Tommy John surgery could be very hard to come back from.
