Pirates starting pitcher Chris Archer will miss 2020 season following surgery

Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Chris Archer will miss the 2020 MLB season after undergoing surgery to relieve symptoms of neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome.

The Pirates said the surgery was performed in St. Louis by Dr. Robert Thompson, a vascular surgeon at Washington University Center for Thoracic Outlet Syndrome at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Yesterday, Chris Archer underwent surgery to relieve symptoms of neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome.

Archer is projected to return to full competition for the 2021 season.

— Pirates (@Pirates) June 3, 2020

Neurogenic TOS occurs when the nerves leading from the neck to the arm are compressed. In announcing Archer’s surgery, the Pirates said he is “projected to return to full competition for the 2021 season.”

Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk said the team’s performance group was “getting some signals” at the conclusion of spring training that Archer was dealing with issues in his neck.

“That’s not an uncommon area to get worked on for a pitcher as far as recovery,” Tomczyk said, “but when we really started to investigate was toward the end of spring training and then obviously during this time of the pandemic.”

Tomczyk said Archer’s surgery was “really comparing oranges to apples” to the one Pirates reliever Nick Burdi underwent this past offseason. Tomczyk said Archer will have a post-operation visit in a month, with the expectation he can be cleared to throw in six to eight months followed by “a light throwing program into more of an interval throwing program from increased distances and intensity” before pitching again.

Archer, a 31-year-old right-hander, is 6-12 with a 4.92 ERA in 33 starts with the Pirates since being acquired from Tampa Bay in a 2018 trade-deadline deal for pitcher Tyler Glasnow, outfielder Austin Meadows and minor-league pitcher Shane Baz.

That deal looks even more lopsided in favor of the Rays after Glasnow went 6-1 with a 1.78 ERA in 12 starts and Meadows batted .291 with 29 doubles, 33 home runs and 89 RBIs and was selected an All-Star last season. Archer, by comparison, went 3-9 with a 5.19 ERA over 119 2/3 innings in 23 starts last season.

Archer is the highest-paid player on the Pirates roster at $9 million and was projected to be a top-of-the-rotation starter with Jameson Taillon also out for the season following Tommy John surgery. Archer is scheduled to make $11 million in 2021, but the Pirates have a club option and can buy out his contract for $250,000.

“As with any contract decision, option or otherwise, we’re going to take advantage of all of the time that we possibly have to make those decisions, and there’s a lot that we’ll learn over the next several months,” Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said.

“As Todd said, we’re certainly encouraged about Chris’ prognosis long-term. Aside from some good stories of TOS recoveries with other pitchers, it’s also important to note, I think, that in Chris’ case in particular, and this was reinforced by some of the vascular experts that we talked to …they’re optimistic about his case in part because outside of that region that he’s having this sensation, his shoulder pathology, the structure and integrity of his shoulder and elbow look really good, so he doesn’t have the other issues that maybe some other pitchers have had to also work through who have undergone TOS.”

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