The shoulder issue has proved too problematic, and ends the 2022 season
Nick Ahmed’s 2022 campaign is officially over. The shortstop underwent surgery by orthopedic surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache, to take care of bone spurs in his shoulder, and also did clean-up in there on the rotator cuff, as well as repairing the labrum. Nick was advised of a six-month rehab time after the procedure. That takes him basically to the end of the year, though Ahmed expressed the belief he should be fully healthy by the time spring training rolls around in February 2023. Ahmed said he tried to push through it, but “eventually came to a point where it just was too painful on the field [and] off the field to continue… I had to think about my long term health and take care of that.”
Ahmed thinks the bone spurs were what had been causing the problem when he swung the bat, while the labrum issues fed into difficulty throwing. Though the spurs also contributed to the fraying and the loose tissue. It has been a long haul for Nick to reach this point – close to two years since he first hurt his shoulder, diving for a ball in summer camp, before the shortened 2020 campaign got under way. He said this afternoon, “That’s the first time I heard it and I’ve basically been kind of dealing with it since.” The impact has been clear, particularly at the plate over the past couple of seasons. Since the start of 2021, Ahmed has hit .222/.278/.350 for a .628 OPS (71 OPS+).