(WFRV)--Eduardo de la Riva throws heat.

So fast, the talented pitcher who accepted a college baseball scholarship right after his sophomore year in high school tore up his elbow.

"Probably the worst pain I've ever had," he said.

He considered Tommy John surgery. Bone is drilled and a tendon graft helps reconstruct the elbow. It's very effective, but recovery can take a year or longer.

"I'm seeing an astounding number of young baseball pitchers who have this injury," Dr. Preston Wolin said.

Dr. Wolin offered Eduardo a surgery-free 30-minute alternative called platelet rich plasma therapy.

"The idea behind PRP is to use the body's own natural healing mechanism," the doctor said.

Growth factor cells in the patient's own blood are extracted and injected back into the patient's elbow to supercharge healing.

Just three-and-a-half months after his injection, Eduardo's elbow is fixed.

Now he's winding up for his first college season and hoping to strike it big in the majors someday