Brewers Starter to Undergo Knee Surgery

Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Corey Hart will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his right knee this Tuesday (January 22) in Milwaukee. Dr. William Raasch will perform a debridement of the right knee joint surface and repair a meniscal tear. Recovery time is expected to be three to four months.

That puts his return to the team right around mid-May if all goes well.

Looks like we know what Mat Gamel will be up to during Spring Training after all.

As for the obvious follow up question as to “Why is this just happening now?” either Hart hurt himself preparing for the season or this was something that was bothering him at the end of the year, shutting himself down made him feel better, and now in ramping up to Spring Training the pain returned and resulted in the forthcoming surgery.

The word though is that Hart’s knee swelled up during off-season workouts. To me, that feels like it is more the latter of the two situations I described in the last paragraph.

Hart had cartilage repaired on the same knee last March after he was hurt while hustling to attend Ryan Braun’s press conference. At the time he was told that if he didn’t have it repaired, he could risk further damage eventually resulting in a procedure with a 3–4 month recovery period. That certainly sounds like what he’s facing now.

All that I can hope is that Hart takes the proper time in his recovery and doesn’t rush himself back like he has in the past. This team will need him firing on all cylinders when he’s activated from the Disabled List.