Mets: Familia can pitch in 3 to 4 months following surgery

MILWAUKEE (AP) Jeurys Familia is expected to return to the New York Mets in three to four months after having surgery Friday to repair a blocked artery near his right armpit.

General manager Sandy Alderson had said he was unsure if Familia would return this season, but the team said in a statement Saturday that the right-hander can resume throwing in six weeks and should pitch again this year.

Dr. Robert Thompson in St. Louis fixed a blockage of the posterior circumflex humeral artery, and manager Terry Collins said the results were better than expected.

Collins had feared Familia was dealing with thoracic outlet syndrome, which ended the season of Mets right-hander Matt Harvey last year. Thoracic outlet syndrome involves the compression of blood vessels and nerves that extend from the neck to the shoulder, and the condition often causes numbness and pain in the shoulder and arm.

”I was concerned that any time those blood clots get in certain places, they can cut off the blood supply and then, all of a sudden, the muscles don’t fire like they once did,” Collins said. ”This is not the case here.”

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