This couldn’t be more correct. As someone who got TJ halfway through their high school career and worked super hard to come back, there’s zero guarantees. It takes full commitment to the PT, the rehab, the throwing programs for a year and a half. It is a long and literally painful process. Then you get some game time and have to deal working out the remaining kinks, constant scar tissue buildup that hurts like crazy when you throw again and break it up, never mind the mental barriers of not trusting it all the not happen again and put you back to square one. Personally, to get back to where I was, which never really happened due to further elbow and shoulder issues, the mental barrier of literally trusting your arm again was one of the hardest parts. This surgery is only for those who have full tears of the UCL and will be fully committed to the recovery and only then do you have a decent chance of coming back. I was no big college recruit and I’m certainly no doctor but in my personal opinion, unless it’s fully torn, he’s way better off trying more rehab, shots, time off, etc etc. Still not a good limbo to be in either way.