It has been a brutal year for injuries up and down the Cubs organization. The latest is a huge bummer, as right-handed reliever Ethan Roberts will have Tommy John surgery, ending his 2022 season.
Roberts, 24, turned heads during spring training and quickly became a fan favorite, as he showed off his nasty stuff on the mound wore his emotions on his sleeve. He was taken in the fourth round of the 2018 draft out of Tennessee Tech and following an impressive performance down in Arizona this past spring, Roberts made the Cubs Opening Day roster.
Roberts made nine appearances for the Cubs before he landed on the injured list on May 2, (retroactive to April 30) with right-shoulder inflammation. He was sidelined for a few weeks and then started a throwing program in the middle of May. However, the injury was obviously more serious and by the end of the month Roberts was moved to the 60-day injured list, meaning he would not be eligible to return to the Cubs until the very end of June at the earliest. Roberts was back on the mound for the Iowa Cubs at Triple-A, beginning his rehab stint on June 19. Unfortunately, Roberts left the game in pain after only throwing a few pitches.
Now, we obviously know the extent of his injury was much more serious than first thought. Again, it sucks for any player, but just from following Roberts for a couple months going back to spring training he really does seem like someone you love to root for. And everyone you ask who covers the Cubs minor leagues closely raves about not only Roberts as a pitcher, but as a person too.
Hopefully Roberts will recover and come back even better following his Tommy John surgery. This is purely speculating, but Roberts is going to miss the rest of this season and maybe best-case scenario he returns in the final month of the 2023 season.
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