It had been a tough day for Cincinnati Reds pitcher Tejay Antone. His wife had miscarried earlier in the day and was in the hospital recovering. And as he warmed up for a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs, he was still nagged by some soreness from two previous elbow injuries.

Yet, Antone insisted on pitching that day in March 2024. He thought maybe it would be a good diversion from the other things going on at the time. It was just after his fourth appearance on the mound, and two Tommy John surgeries in, that Antone felt that familiar pain in his throwing arm.

“I felt a weird pop in my elbow and knew it wasn’t a normal pop,” he remembers. “I rather assumed in the moment that my career was over. I left everything out on the field as I walked off.”

Finding a Way Back to the Mound

Antone was ready to retire from Major League Baseball (MLB) after his third elbow injury since the 2017 season. Like his earlier injuries, Antone again required Tommy John surgery. The procedure, also known as ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction, is done to replace the ligament at the inside of the elbow. It’s a common injury in competitive and professional athletes who do a lot of overhead movements.

“I was ready to move on just because I knew the amount of work that was about to be in front of me,” Antone remembers. “It scared me, honestly.”

Getting off “the rollercoaster” of being healthy and then being injured and needing to rehab again was a real consideration for the professional athlete. But Antone says he had to listen to his body, and it was telling him that he was still a Major League pitcher. That drive and determination led him to Texas Health Sports Medicine on the campus of Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth, where he met with board-certified sports physical therapy specialist Craig Warner, PT, DPT, SCS.

Warner, who is the facility’s Clinical Coordinator of Sports Medicine, already had a relationship with the Reds’ physical therapy team and had successfully rehabbed one of Antone’s teammates. That connection became the turning point Antone needed.

Rehabbing in North Texas

As a former Weatherford Junior College graduate, Antone still resides in North Texas in the off season and remains tied to the community as the owner of baseball training facility Kova Sports. After undergoing his third Tommy John surgery in April 2024 — which also included a flexor tendon repair this time around, the Cincinnati Reds wanted to prolong Antone’s recovery for several years to ensure optimal healing. Antone had other plans.

“I had access to the Red’s spring training facility and staff in Arizona, which was great, but I really wanted to find someone who could handle an athlete in my position,” he notes. The team wanted me to stay with them for eight weeks after surgery, but as soon as my arm brace was removed, I went to Craig.”

It was in June of 2024, just six weeks post-surgery, that Antone stepped into the Texas Health Sports Medicine facility to begin work with Warner. The next eight months of rehabilitation inside the Fort Worth clinic would serve to be instrumental to the pitcher’s return to the mound.

“We provided a pretty advanced program for him, focusing on everything from building strength in his lower half to strengthening his core, shoulder, elbow, wrist and forearm — while maintaining his progressions to adhere to the Reds’ physician protocol,” Warner explains. “We were mindful that Tejay needed to regain his elbow range of motion while not putting extra strain on his surgical graft or surrounding muscle.”

The tailored rehabilitation program Warner built for Antone used diagnostic ultrasound and the clinic’s 3D motion capture lab to track the athlete’s progress and gradually advance him into higher‑level strengthening. Eventually, Antone was able to complete a structured throwing program.

“When I first saw Tejay, he was unable to lift weights at the level needed for an MLB pitcher and was unable to throw at the capacity he needed to,” Warner says. “We spent time working to build his arm strength and range of motion through a multifactorial program that prepared him for his return-to-sport phase and to perform again at a high level.

Texas Health Sports Medicine is equipped to help athletes like Tejay navigate their rehab from start to finish. This includes any issues that might come up. The clinic has really grown its resources to provide premier care for major league athletes facing the challenges of rehabilitation.”

“Craig did really well in following the rehab framework from the team,” Antone adds. “He took the information provided and looked at where I was in the moment, not just on paper; I appreciated his creativity throughout my physical therapy. He made it fun and brought in new insights beyond my other rehab protocols, and he did it in a way that was engaging.”

Tejay’s Comback — On and Off the Field

Antone picked up a baseball again for first time on Nov. 18, 2024 (in the midst of his rehab at Texas Health Sports Medicine), after his third Tommy John surgery on April 12, 2024. He completed his care with Texas Health in February 2025 and returned to Cincinnati to continue rehabbing under the guidance of the Reds team.

On May 28, 2025, Antone pitched for the first time since his third injury, this time for the Louisville Bats Minor League team. On May 6, 2026, Antone made his first appearance on the mound again for the Cincinnati Reds. That return made him one of only a few MLB pitchers to come back to the league after multiple elbow reconstructions.

“From that moment forward, it was like riding a bike; it was business as usual,” Antone says. He went on to pitch a perfect inning against the Chicago Cubs. And on Friday, May 15, he nailed down the 9th inning of a game with his first save since May 30, 2021 — a span of 1,811 days and three Tommy John surgeries later.

Antone knows his story isn’t finished. He wants to continue pitching, but with a heightened focus on his health. He continues to do maintenance work at Texas Health Sports Medicine whenever he’s in the area and because he trusts Warner’s care. “Whenever I have kids in my facility, I always refer them to Craig to at least get checked out. I have developed a great relationship with him,” Antone acknowledges.

Out of that really tough day in 2024 came joy and perseverance. Antone and his wife welcomed twin boys at Texas Health Fort Worth in 2025. His journey also inspired him to write The Tommy John Protocol.

Learn more about Tejay Antone’s story.

Ready to come back from a sports injury? Make your move with Texas Health Sports Medicine at TexasHealth.org/SportsMedicine.