If he didn’t have bad luck, he wouldn’t have any luck at all.
Pitcher Packy Naughton, in the midst of an MLB comeback attempt following multiple arm injuries, left his 2026 debut on Wednesday with the Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate after just three pitches with another apparent injury.
Facing White Sox farmhand Korey Lee in the bottom of the sixth inning, the left-hander’s 1-1 pitch missed well outside the zone, and left Naughton in obvious discomfort.
The 29-year-old Naughton immediately grabbed at his left elbow and bent over in pain as Redbirds catcher Leo Bernal and the training staff tended to him.
Naughton then walked off the field with a trainer while clutching his left elbow.
“That’s never a good sign,” Charlotte Knights announcer Matt Swierad said during the broadcast. “Hopefully nothing too serious there, just something he was trying to be cautious about.”
Naughton was shaping up as a feel-good story in 2026 after missing most of the past three seasons.
He logged a 1.29 ERA over seven appearances in a “resurgent” spring training with the Cardinals, ramping up to potentially making his first MLB appearance since 2023.
“Even after the first pitch, it was kind of a sigh of relief,” Naughton told St. Louis’ NBC affiliate KDSK during spring training about his return. “Elbow was intact, everything was good to go. All the work I’ve done; it paid off.”
The Boston native tore his flexor tendon after just four scoreless outings with St. Louis to begin the 2023 season, which sidelined him for the remainder of the year.
As he rehabbed in the Cardinals’ minor league system in July 2024, Naughton re-tore the flexor tendon while also tearing the ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow, requiring season-ending Tommy John surgery.
The injury and subsequent surgery also caused him to miss the entire 2025 season.
The Cardinals re-signed Naughton to a two-year deal in the offseason with the understanding he would miss all of 2025, but would hopefully be a factor in 2026.
During his time away from the field, Naughton got his real estate license, which he told STLSportsPage.com felt like “competing again.”
“I knew I was missing all of 2025 and I knew I needed to do something that wasn’t going to drive me crazy being in South Florida during the summer,” Naughton told the outlet about juggling baseball and his second job as a realtor.
Naughton was drafted by the Reds in the ninth round of the 2017 MLB Draft before being traded to the Angels in August 2020.
He made his MLB debut with the Angels the following season, but was designated for assignment after making seven appearances.
The Cardinals scooped Naughton off the waiver wire, and he made a career-high 27 appearances during the 2022 campaign.
In parts of three MLB seasons, the swingman sports a 4.98 ERA across 37 games.
