Suffering from numbness in his pitching arm, Giants SP Noah Lowry was shut down in August of 2007 and had forearm surgery in 2008 to correct what team doctors thought to be exertional compartment syndrome. Having missed a season and a half and with little chance of throwing a ball in anger in 2009, Lowery’s agent, Damon Lapa suggests to the SF Chronicle’s Henry Schulman that his client — having been recently diagnosed with the circulatory condition known as thoracic outlet syndrome — was poorly served by his employers.
The Giants were very diligent in having him see a variety of doctors, but ultimately it’s based on results. Regardless of how many doctors he saw in the organization, none of them was able to diagnose the root of the problem. They tried a variety of treatments with no symptomatic relief and left Noah in a situation where he’s worked himself into the best shape of his life and he still had symptoms and pain.
“It’s a happy day in the sense that we’re excited the cause has been found. Noah has been working diligently and he’s been frustrated for the past 12 months or so of, without a clear cause or diagnosis, not knowing why he’s not able to do what he enjoys. There’s nothing worse than robbing a guy of what he loves to do.”
In any event, Lowry’s Giants career probably is over. His contract expires after this season and he won’t be able to do any kind of baseball work for roughly the next three months.