Column: Hamilton loses season to wrong diagnosis

Clayton Hamilton felt the persistent pain in his lower side for more than a year.

The Pittsburgh Pirates doctors and trainers kept telling the right-handed pitching prospect that he had a strained oblique muscle, which has become the baseball injury of the 2000s. They told him to rest and it would get better.
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The pain is still there and will cause Hamilton to miss the remainder of what little is left of the Carolina League season that ends on Labor Day. At least Hamilton has the peace of mind to know the injury is something more than a strained oblique.

It turns out Hamilton had been pitching and living with a broken 11th rib since sometime early last season.
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Doctors have told him there is a chance the rib may never heal properly because he continued to pitch and work out with it broken for over a year.

‘There is a possibility that I may always have to live with a certain amount of pain whenever I’m involved in any physical activity,’ Hamilton said. ‘Hopefully, it heals. If not, I’ll have to learn how to manage it.’

Wow, the crackerjack Pirate medical staff strikes again.