Thompson encouraged with recovery from second Tommy John surgery

MIAMI – When the Nationals walked into the clubhouse at loanDepot park on Tuesday, a familiar face joined them.

Cade Cavalli, still rehabbing from his March 2023 Tommy John surgery in nearby West Palm Beach, once again made the trip down from the team’s spring training facility to spend some time around the team. Ever since his surgery, nearly every time the Nats have been in Miami, Cavalli has joined them.

But this time, he was not alone. Another familiar face joined him on the trip down to Miami. One that has not been seen since spring training.

Mason Thompson, also recovering from Tommy John, was all smiles as he walked into the clubhouse on Tuesday and was greeted by his teammates for the first time since his surgery in March. And while his target date to return is still sometime in 2025, he has been encouraged with how his own rehab process has gone.

“I feel great,” Thompson said. “Still a little ways out from throwing, I think sometime in October is kind of the set date. But I feel great. I feel, honestly, better than I did prior to surgery. Arm feels good. Body feels good. Feeling strong and just looking forward to getting back out there.”

Thompson’s right elbow isn’t the only new thing about him. The 6-foot-6 right-hander was easily recognizable in the Nats clubhouse with his tall stature and long reddish-brown hair coming out the back of his hat. But he now has a new look that made him unrecognizable to some team staff members at first.

“It's awesome. Mason lost about three pounds of hair,” manager Davey Martinez said with a laugh of the reliever’s short haircut. “But he looks great. He said he feels good.”

This was the second Tommy John surgery for Thompson, who reported to spring training with some elbow discomfort only to find out two weeks later he needed the surgery again. He also had it nine years ago while still a junior in high school. He also then dealt with a biceps strain in 2022 with the Nats, missing three months.

But the 26-year-old said his experience with the recovery process has helped him this second time around.

“Well, fortunately, I had the groundwork from having it done the first time,” he said. “This being my second time, I kind of already knew what to expect. I haven't gone through it in professional baseball, but I at least had an idea of like, 'Hey, don't get ahead of yourself. It's a long process. It's going to be monotonous at times. It's going to get old at times. It's going to be frustrating at times. But just kind of see the light at the end of the tunnel.'”

Thompson was at times one of the Nats’ best relievers last year. He posted a 0.96 ERA with 17 strikeouts to only one walk in 18 ⅔ innings over his first 10 appearances. He then struggled in May, with his ERA inflating to 4.76 by the end of the month. But a 0.82 ERA in 12 June appearances brought it back down before a mixed bag in the second half saw him end the season with a disappointing 5.50 ERA and 1.556 WHIP in 51 games.

Of course, Thompson wants to be back on the mound helping the Nats win games. But for this week, he was just happy to be in the same clubhouse with his teammates.

“I was thinking about it on the way in today, I was like, 'I'm really excited to go out and stretch with the team. Go out and just be on the field,'” he said. “Little things that I feel like we kind of take for granted sometimes, or kind of even get annoyed with sometimes. So that definitely gave me a chance to reflect and kind of make the game a little bit smaller, in a sense. And just realize that it's a big part of me, but it's not all of me. I have plenty of other things to look forward to and things like that. But I'm really excited to get back out there and get going.

“I miss these guys. I miss being here. … You build some bonds with these guys and you really look forward to the season and being around them and just the whole environment. And then to kind of have that taken away right before the season starts, it's not fun. But I'm happy to be here with them today.”

For now, Thompson is only working on strength and conditioning. He’ll work his way up to throwing again next month and build up his arm throughout the offseason. But he feels like he’s ahead of schedule, with a baseline to go off of from his first surgery encouraging optimism for next year.

“Body-wise and arm-wise, I'd say I'm ahead of schedule,” Thompson said. “I know my first surgery, I think I had, not really any setbacks or complications or anything like that, just kind of some soreness here and there. Just stiffness from post op. But I haven't had any of that this time. My arm feels great. Body feels great. I'm working really hard. Obviously, we have a great strength staff and training staff, and I feel ready to go.”

“After all the reports I hear, he's doing really well,” Martinez said. “And that's a great thing. I talked to him a little bit. He says he feels a lot better this time around than he did the first, which is definitely encouraging.”