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Jarrod Parker leaves rehab start with awful looking elbow injury

Jarrod Parker leaves rehab start with awful looking elbow injury

What was supposed to be one of the final steps in Jarrod Parker's recovery from a second Tommy John surgery, quickly turned to concern over his future in baseball as he went to the ground writhing in pain following his 87th pitch.

Parker was making his fourth rehab outing this spring for the A's Triple-A squad in Nashville. Everything appeared to be going smoothly until that fateful pitch, which based on eyewitness accounts appears to have resulted in a significant setback in his recovery.

Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle adds that multiple observers described Parker as being in “excruciating pain” and close to tears coming off the field.

“You cross your fingers, obviously, for Jarrod. I don’t even know what to say,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “For a guy who’s worked as hard as he has to get back, I really don’t have words for that. I just feel really bad for him.”

There's video, but we must warn you beforehand that the injury is brutal and the video itself is difficult to watch

Parker, 26, was attempting to work his way back from his second Tommy John surgery, which he underwent in March 2014. He hasn't appeared in an MLB game since September of 2013.

There's still not enough data overall to truly measure the effectiveness of a second Tommy John surgery or the likelihood that a pitcher can return at all. It has happened. Chris Capuano was the example pointed out by Slusser, but the list is not long. However, with the recent increase in torn UCLs and Tommy John surgeries, the data is growing.

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As for the A's, they also received bad news on A.J. Griffin, who like Parker is also recovering from Tommy John surgery. He was shutdown with shoulder soreness two innings into a simulated game at extended spring training on Thursday.

The A's were likely very hopeful to have at least one of those two starters back before June. Now the outlooks of one appears to have changed significantly, while the other remains an uncertainty. As beautiful as baseball is, sometimes it can be downright brutal.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!