New York Yankees Closer Mariano Rivera Sets Surgery Date

The mostly widely followed knee surgery in quite some time has finally been scheduled.  Mariano Rivera has kept the

city of New York, and the baseball world in general, on the edge of their seats wondering when he would finally go under the knife to repair the knee he damaged during bating practice last month.  That date has finally been set.

According to Kieran Darcy of ESPN New York, Rivera will see Dr. David Altcheck on June 12th to undergo surgery to repair his torn right ACL.  Rivera is confident that he will pitch again next season after he rehabs the surgically repaired knee.

Mariano Rivera is the all-time saves leader with 608 saves.  He also owns numerous postseason records and has proven he is one of the best play-off pitchers in history.  In 96 games, Rivera owns a 0.76 ERA and has struck out 110 to just 21 walks.

Rivera may have scheduled the surgery earlier if he had not encountered complications with a blood clot in the right leg.  With the blood clot gone, surgery is now a safe option.

The injury happened on May 3rd in Kansas City when Rivera was shagging fly balls during batting practice.  He routinely does so to stay in shape and stay lose, but luck was not on his side that day.  After leaping for a fly ball, he came down awkwardly on his leg and it was immediately clear the injury was severe.  Rivera had to be carted off the field and many questioned whether he would pitch another game again.

Rivera says he is expecting to come back next season, but while not thinking about a return to the game this year, he won’t rule it out.  “I always believe in miracles,” he said.

In nine games before the injury, Rivera had eight saves and a 2.16 ERA.  His walk rate was slightly up at 2.2 per nine innings, but his strikeout rate was about even with last season at 8.6 K/nine.