His elbow rebuilt, the Brewers' Wade Miley is shooting for a return to pitching next spring

Wade Miley was something of a unicorn as far as pitchers go.

Nearly 14 years into professional baseball and 12 into his major-league career, the 37-year-old Miley underwent surgery for the first time, a hybrid Tommy John procedure, last week in Cincinnati.

It came off without a hitch, too.

But …

“It kind of sucks,” Miley said over the weekend. “If I knew it would hurt like this, I probably would have just retired. Seriously. The first few days have been brutal.

“I won’t have any more (surgeries). Unless I’m about to die and they’ve got to do it.”

Wade Miley's hybrid Tommy John procedure allows for quicker return

The short-term discomfort aside, Miley was operated on by Dr. Timothy Kremchek with the goal of pitching again in 2025.

Having the style of Tommy John surgery Miley did – one in which a brace is inserted to help support the new ulnar collateral ligament – allows for a quicker return and, in theory, a stronger elbow once it’s completely healed.

“I'm going to try to be ready for spring training,” Miley said. “I think doing the hybrid puts me in a situation where I can come back quicker. I'm obviously at the end of my career, so I don't really have nothing to lose. I'm going to push it as much as I can push it.

“I’ll obviously try to stay as safe as possible, but I'm going to push it. But (coming back) as soon as possible, that's what I'm shooting for.”

Being pain-free, both in the near and long term, is music to Miley’s ears.

Despite numerous arm injuries, Miley pitched a no-hitter in 2021

While just about every pitcher deals with some varying degree of discomfort in an elbow or shoulder as part of the job of repeatedly hurling a sphere at high velocity, Miley had spent the previous 10 years trying to hold his arm together as best as he could.

There were multiple trips to the injured list during his time with Arizona, Boston, Seattle, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Houston, Cincinnati, the Chicago Cubs and then the Brewers again last season, but Miley still managed to perform at a high level with his no-hitter on May 7, 2021, serving as the high point of his career.

Miley did log 22 starts and 120 ⅓ innings for Milwaukee and in December signed a one-year, $8.5 million contract to return.

But it was evident from the opening days of spring training that something wasn’t right.

Miley was brought along slowly and eventually made his season debut April 10. He took his next turn six days later but managed to go only three innings and landed on the injured list April 22.

“I know I had some damage in 2014 and then it scar-tissued over,” he said. “So, from then until now it’s been bothering me. It’s probably been since 2020 that it’s been bothering me the most. I’m not saying that it’s been torn since then, but there was something in there. We always just thought it was inflammation from bone spurs.

“We made it work for a while. I had an arthrogram MRI in my elbow right after the all-star break last year. My ligament did not look like it looked (in surgery). I can’t pinpoint a day that it happened. I know throughout the spring there wasn’t a lot of pain, but the ball wasn’t coming out of my hand like I was used to.

“I do remember a backdoor cutter to (Spencer) Steer in Cincinnati (on April 10) that ‘zinged’ on me. But I threw a fastball right after that. It was 92 and right where I wanted it.”

Miley said his elbow began swelling after that start, serving as the red flag that something was truly amiss.

“It was pretty tore up,” is how Miley described his UCL. And he would know – he’s actually watched the video of the roughly hour-long surgery.

Miley will rehab in Milwaukee, consider coaching

Miley’s left arm is now slung and protected by a massive brace and will remain that way for the time being. He plans to remain around the team as much as possible and will do his rehab in Milwaukee much the same way Brandon Woodruff is handling his recovery from shoulder surgery.

His mere presence will benefit the team, manager Pat Murphy said.

“He’s one of the highest-paid coaches in baseball right now, if not the highest,” he quipped, refusing to pass on a chance to zing Miley.

“He’s been great. I love having him around. He’s part of the fabric here, he really is. Going back to ’18 and him coming back last year, giving us some big outings. I think he’s crucial to this whole unit. He’s a special guy.”

Should Miley’s anticipated comeback not go according to plan and he is forced to hang up his spikes, he’s already expressed sincere interest in picking up coaching at the very least.

“It’s just been, like, piecing it together. Seeing how I felt when I got to the offseason whether I wanted to keep doing it or not,” he said, referring to his motivation in recent years. “I feel like I’m probably a baseball lifer. I would imagine staying in the game in some capacity.

“Unless my wife kills me.”

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers' Wade Miley hopes to pitch in 2025 after Tommy John surgery