Astros' Hampton to miss all of next season
Last Updated: Tuesday, September 15, 2009 | 7:23 PM ET
CBC Sports
Mike Hampton will miss next season recovering from surgery. (Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)The injury bug has bit pitcher Mike Hampton big time this time.
The Houston Astros confirmed Tuesday that Hampton will sit out next season to recover from surgery on a torn left rotator cuff and partially damaged labrum.
The procedure was performed by noted sports surgeon Dr. David Altchek, medical director for the New York Mets, at New York's Hospital for Special Surgery.
Hampton, 36, left the mound with discomfort in his shoulder in the fifth inning of
He was placed on the disabled list the next day and agreed to surgery two weeks later.
Hampton has landed on the DL more than a dozen times in his injury-plagued career.
The left-hander posted a 7-10 record with a 4.70 earned-run average in 21 starts last season with Houston, which re-signed him last Dec. 3 for $2 million US.
Hampton previously pitched for the Astros in the mid-to-late 1990s.
"It is amazing that the guy was able to pitch this year," Astros manager Cecil Cooper said. "It saddens me to think he had that tear in there.
"I think if anybody can bounce back, it is Mike. He has done that a lot."
'I could see him coming back'
Hampton spent six seasons with the Astros before he was traded to the Mets in 1999 and later pitched — albeit sparingly — for the Colorado Rockies and Atlanta Braves, with whom he went 3-4 with a 4.85 ERA in 14 starts in 2008.
It marked his first steady work in three years.
Hampton didn't pitch in either 2006 or 2007, using the time to recover from a pair of serious elbow surgeries and an oblique injury.
"I could see him coming back," Astros third baseman Aaron Boone said. "Just because he has had so many injuries.
"To his credit, he has always fought back. He takes of himself and he is in great shape.
"The perception is people begrudge him what he makes and he could have gone home, but he continues to battle. He is a phenomenal athlete.
"He has been a very good pitcher for a long time. I wouldn't put anything past him."
Hampton is 148-115 lifetime with a 4.07 ERA, 21 complete games and one save in 409 appearances (355 starts) over 15 MLB seasons with the Seattle Mariners, Astros, Mets, Rockies and Braves.
With files from The Associated Press
