When it comes to high school and college sports, young athletes often yearn for bigger muscles to enhance their performance.  But for student baseball pitchers, strength isn't so much the goal as it is speed throwing speed, that is.

Now, student athletes looking for a way to get an extra boost in their pitching arm have been putting their hopes in an elective surgery called ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction more famously known as Tommy John surgery.

However, according to one doctor, misconceptions surround Tommy John surgery, cautioning it isn't necessarily the miraculous savior that student athletes think it is.

"They believe the surgery can allow you to throw more effectively," Dr. Christopher Ahmad, an associate professor of orthopedic surgery at Columbia University and head team physician for the New York Yankees, told FoxNews.com.  "It's not much different than thinking performance enhancing drugs can make you throw harder."