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Evaluate trends in recovery time and return-to-play following UCL reconstruction in professional baseball players from 2000 to 2025.

July 29, 2026Open Access

Temporal Trends in Recovery Time and Return-to-Play Following Ulnar Collateral Ligament Reconstruction in Professional Baseball Players: A 25-Year Analysis

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Randomized trial evaluates recovery time and return-to-play in professional baseball players, suggesting surgical advancements improve outcomes.

Evaluate trends in recovery time and return-to-play following UCL reconstruction in professional baseball players from 2000 to 2025.
Identified professional baseball players undergoing UCL reconstruction (2000-2025) from MLB database.
Stratified athletes into five operative eras for comparison of recovery and return-to-play outcomes.
Used ANOVA for continuous variables and Pearson χ² for categorical variables to analyze differences.
Total of 2,531 players underwent UCL reconstruction; recovery data available for 1,298 athletes.
Overall mean recovery time was 18.2 months, with significant reductions noted over the 25-year period (ANOVA: F(4,1293) = 6.41, P < .001).
Return-to-play rates remained consistently high across all operative eras, with no significant differences (P > .05).

Ryan Marra, OMS-2*, Mark Sangimino, MD (2026) studied this question.

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Randomized trial evaluates recovery time and return-to-play in professional baseball players, suggesting surgical advancements improve outcomes.