PHILADELPHIA — Bryce Harper needs elbow surgery.
After months of speculation, Harper will undergo a procedure on the damaged ulnar collateral ligament that prevented him from throwing since the middle of April, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski announced Wednesday.
The extent of the surgery — a full-scale ligament reconstruction, known colloquially as “Tommy John surgery,” or a repair of the existing ligament — won’t be ascertained until Harper is on the operating table. Further, the Phillies won’t know when to expect their superstar slugger to return until after Dr. Neal ElAttrache performs the surgery next Wednesday in Los Angeles.
