Despite all of his work, preparation and maintenance, Rockies all-star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki has suffered another significant hip injury and will miss the rest of the season.
Rockies head trainer Keith Dugger said Wednesday night that Tulowitzki has a torn labrum in his left hip and will have surgery Friday in Vail. The surgery will be performed by Dr. Marc Philippon.
Dugger said recovery time is expected to be about five months.
“I’m looking forward to getting back and playing the game I love,” Tulowitzki said. “I will do everything I can to perform at a high level for the rest of my career. This (surgery) should answer a lot of leg issues I have had in my past.”
Also on Wednesday, Dugger said the tendinitis in Carlos Gonzalez’s left knee is worse that previously thought and he will consult with team doctors Thursday to determine a course of action. Gonzalez went on the disabled list Sunday.
Tulo, 29, has been on the disabled list since July 19 when he injured the hip while running out a grounder in a game at Pittsburgh. He finished the season having played in 91 games, batting .340 with 21 home runs and 52 RBIs.
The team first called his injury a left hip flexor strain. But as time went on and he missed more games, it became apparent something more serious might be going on.
Asked how bad a tear Tulowitzki suffered, Dugger said: “Right now we’re just saying it’s a tear. Yes, there are degrees, but a lot of time you don’t know until post-op.”
The extent of what needs to be repaired won’t be know until Philippon performs the surgery.
“Do you have to put sutures in there? Is it just a clean-up job or do they have to shave bone spurs? You really don’t know that kind of stuff until they get in there,” Dugger said. “Full recovery time is about five months. … By spring training, he’s full go for sure.”
This season began on a high note and Tulowitzki was being mentioned early as a possible National League MVP candidate. He led all NL players in fan voting for the All-Star Game, garnering 5,349,456 votes. He also was captain of the NL’s Home Run Derby squad.
But always lurking in the shadows was the possibility of another injury to his left hip and groin area.
“I feel bad for him,” third baseman Nolan Arenado said Wednesday night after the Rockies lost 5-3 to the San Diego Padres. “He worked so hard, and to see what’s happening is really disappointing.
“It’s disappointing and upsetting. I feel very bad for him. But knowing him, he’s going to work very hard and he’s going to come back even better because that’s just the way he does things. It has a huge impact on the team, but that impact was a long time ago (when he was injured).”
There has been a lot of speculation that the Rockies might entertain a trade for Tulowitzki during the offseason. That talk, obviously, will not take place now. Tulowitzki, considered the game’s best two-way shortstop, will be due $118 million after this season on a deal that runs through 2020, with a club option for 2021.
Since becoming a rookie sensation in 2007 and helping lead the Rockies to the World Series, Tulo has battled leg injuries. His 2008 season was marred when he tore a tendon in his left quadriceps, forcing him to miss 46 games. He played just 47 games in 2012, sidelined by a left groin injury that led to season-ending surgery.
Given Tulo’s injury history, he was given prescribed days off, and if he felt tightness in his groin, he would ease up on the basepaths or take a day or two off.
He was aware that the 2008 injury left him with a muscle imbalance in his upper left leg.
“I’ve told myself, ‘If you’re going to get hurt again, make sure you have covered all of your bases,’ ” Tulowitzki told The Denver Post last month. “That way you can sit in your chair, be on the DL, look atit and say: ‘Hey look, I can’t do anything more. This is all I had and I gave it everything I had.’ I can firmly say that now.”
Tulowitzki’s daily routine involved hours of scripted workouts, endless stretching and rolling and a postgame plunge into an ice bath. At home, he often sleeps in a hyperbaric chamber, where the rich oxygen atmosphere helped him recover.
Patrick Saunders: psaunders@denverpost.com or twitter.com/psaundersdp
Kirk Kenney contributed to this report.
