Texas Rangers pitcher Derek Holland underwent microfracture knee surgery last Friday after a fall while playing with his dog.
The surgery on his left knee repaired torn cartilage behind the kneecap, the team announced. Team medical director Dr. Keith Meister performed the procedure in which tiny fractures in the kneecap are created to stimulate cartilage growth.
Holland, 27, will be on crutches for six weeks before he is able to begin rehab. Estimates are his recovery could extend to the All-Star break in July.
The left-hander described the circumstances of the injury to the Dallas Morning News.
“I was messing around with my dog, just clowning around, and from that, I was deciding to take off from him and run up the stairs,” he said. “He decided to go just as quick as I did and came from behind me, clipped me from the back of my legs up the stairs, so as I was going up the stairs, he clipped me, and I fell down the steps.
“My knee buckled, and when I went down, I could have fallen all the way down and probably cracked my head open, but I caught myself from doing that, and I started yelling at the dog — and I’m not going to lie; any other person would do the exact same thing. And then my roommate heard me, came out, and I tried to get up, figuring everything was cool. I didn’t think it was that big a deal, and I noticed it.
“My leg was killing me, so we called one of my trainers, and then we called my strength coach, and then from there, we got a hold of Dr. Meister, and we got everything set up. I had told him what had happened.”
As a starter in the Rangers’ rotation last year, Holland posted a 10-9 record with a 3.42 ERA and 189 strikeouts in 213 innings.
Rangers right-hander Scott Feldman had the same surgery in November 2010.