Carroll speculated further about the most likely cause. But yeah it seems that while there are many fairly simple and positive outcomes for Wheeler the person, few of them involve Wheeler the baseball player returning to action in 6-8 weeks. And even the most optimistic scenario there doesn't necessarily make him ready to pitch in October.
Blood clots in the shoulder and arm, particularly for pitchers, often fall under a category called Paget–Schroetter syndrome. In plain terms, the subclavian vein, which runs near the collarbone, gets compressed. The repeated violent overhead motion of throwing a baseball can aggravate it until blood pools, coagulates, and threatens to move downstream. Left untreated, that clot can break loose and travel to the lungs. That’s a pulmonary embolism and those can be fatal.
What happens now? If Wheeler’s case follows the path of others before him, it will involve a vascular surgeon, a procedure to remove or dissolve the clot, and can involve the removal of part of the first rib to reduce the compression that caused it in the first place. That’s not minor. It ends seasons. It takes months of rehab but history tells us it doesn’t end careers any more, due to a better understanding of the condition and better techniques. Living through it is the first part.
