Photo: Doug Gray
Tejay Antone took the mound this afternoon in Lansing, Michigan while rehabbing with the High-A Dayton Dragons. Antone is working his way back from a third Tommy John surgery and has not pitched in a game since April of 2024 when he suffered the injury that required going under the knife yet again.
Just getting back on the mound is impressive enough. Most guys don’t even try to come back after three elbow injuries like this. Very, very few have made it back to the big leagues after a third Tommy John surgery. For Antone, though, it wasn’t just his UCL that needed to be repaired this time. He tore his flexor mass tendon from the bone, too, and had to have that repaired.
The right-handed reliever had been rehabbing out in Arizona at the Reds spring training complex where they have a rookie-level minor league team as well as their long-term rehab set up for players who are expected to miss a lot of time in their organization. He did pitch in some unofficial minor league games before returning to the minor leagues on Wednesday afternoon with Dayton.
The first batter he Tejay Antone faced battled him for seven pitches, but the 31-year-old would strike him out on an 87 MPH slider on that 7th pitch. The next hitter grounded out to second base where Antone had to cover first base. He would would the third hitter of the inning before getting another ground out to second base to end his day.
The most important thing is that he got through the outing healthy. But let’s talk about some other stuff from the day. Half of the pitches he threw were strikes. He threw 16 pitches on the day and eight of them were outside of the strikezone. His fastball topped out at 97 MPH according to the on-screen radar from the broadcast.
Antone is not on the 40-man roster. He re-signed with the Reds on a minor league deal for 2025. That means when his rehab stint time is “up” he won’t have to join the big league club. There’s not a ton of time remaining in the minor league season, but Louisville’s season doesn’t end until September 21st, so Antone will have a chance to show that he’s back beyond just his rehab time and could potentially get back to the big leagues if he performs well.
About The Author
