Cardinals' Cooper Hjerpe: Recovering from minor elbow surgery

Hjerpe is recovering from surgery to remove a loose body in his left elbow and is questionable to return this season, Daniel Guerrero of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

He last pitched May 23 for High-A Peoria, and as of Aug. 14, he was throwing from 120 feet at the Cardinals' spring training complex in Florida with a light bullpen session on tap. It's encouraging that this wasn't Tommy John surgery, but it's possible we won't see the left-hander back in game action until 2024. Hjerpe got off to a slow start in his pro debut, but he had a 1.54 ERA, 0.90 WHIP and 26 strikeouts in 23.1 innings over his four most recent starts.