Mesoraco to have season-ending hip surgery

CINCINNATI -- Reds catcher Devin Mesoraco will undergo season-ending hip surgery on June 29 in New York to repair a left hip impingement, the team announced Saturday.

• Cast your Esurance All-Star ballot for #ASGWorthy players

Dr. Bryan Kelly will perform the surgery that will take four to six months of rehabilitation. The procedure shouldn't affect Mesoraco's ability to play catcher and he expects to be ready by the start of the 2016 season.

"Once you get it done, you're fine," Mesoraco said prior to Saturday's game against the Marlins at Great American Ball Park. "You can come back and feel refueled, brand new, catching-wise, because the problem is that those bones are rubbing together and my range of motion it just made it really poor when I'm in my catching squat. Now they've just been rubbing together so much that it's causing other problems, so theoretically once I come back I should have a lot better range of motion when I'm in my squat."

Mesoraco hasn't been able to catch for the Reds since April 12, but had been used in 17 games as a pinch-hitter or designated hitter in Interleague play. He was placed on the 15-day disabled list on May 25.

The Reds also had explored using Mesoraco in left field after Marlon Byrd went down with a wrist fracture. Mesoraco appeared in three games for Triple-A Louisville during a rehab assignment but still didn't feel healthy enough to play, triggering the decision to have surgery.

"After I got hurt in Louisville it was just a matter of time," Mesoraco said. "We've tried this, we've tried that, at this time table [and] the way things will play out for me to be 100 percent going into next year, this was the time to get it done. So after that didn't work we kind of knew. ... We decided to finalize the details."

Mesoraco added that he doesn't regret pushing off the surgery as long as he did to try to make a return this season.

The 2014 All-Star Game selection will finish the season hitting .178/.275/.244 with two RBIs and two extra base hits over 45 at bats in 23 games.

"It's disappointing," Mesoraco said. "I've been trying so long to get it better and get it to the point where I can play, that at this point there's just nothing else that we can do. I feel good about getting it done and moving on to next season."