Hello everyone,
It has been quite a while since I wrote and updated what has been going on in the rehab world. I am in Florida right now rehabbing until I am cleared to go, which is a few months away, and then from there whatever happens happens. The first step is to be healthy and be considered game ready.
I went back and looked at the last time I wrote a post and wow. I went radio silence since June heading into July. Let us do a quick recap of events leading up to this point. If you don’t care for the details I put a sentence recap at the bottom.
In June heading into July I was hanging out rehabbing everyday. The elbow brace was still on and a standard day was going to the field early ,getting the workouts and rehab done, then watching five innings of a GCL game that started at 1 pm. It was time traveling back to my roots when I used to be the one pitching in the 1 pm games. The new draftees were rolling in as well as younger players making their American debuts. There were new rehab draftees as well as normal players, and in that group I made new friends. It is hard to not make a friend in rehab since you spend all day with them and go through the workouts together working back towards being cleared. This was the daily schedule until the second phase of rehab began where I was not throwing but I was sent home to continue.
I spent the the next month in Bloomington doing rehab there were I would workout like normal but still was not throwing. It was the same as being in Florida except being banished back to Illinois and away from the sunshine. This was due to workers compensation and some other factors that I’m not aware of that are more on the Cardinals end. I did this until I got close to September and I went to see Dr. Paletta in St. Louis to be cleared to throw.
I went down the night before and planned a stadium tour of Busch Stadium in the morning then went to the doctors office in the afternoon. The stadium tour was sweet and there is history with the Cardinals that was interesting, and learned about the St. Louis Browns. After the visit I was hyped up to get throwing but I guess it wasn’t my time yet, and I was told to rehab for a few more weeks at home. All good in my eyes, and it wasn’t because of an elbow setback or anything like that. Just doing what I was told.
When the next three weeks of rehab came and went it was about time to start throwing for real. My plan was to go to Florida to start my rehab throwing because I was told from other people if you have an injury you are usually on site at the complex. If the trainers are in town then you get to be in town with them excluding holidays. I had a master plan in place to go down and say whats up.
I was visiting Lauren in Michigan and I should have listened to her wisdom. She is always right. I left Michigan to drive to Florida to have my car ready for rehab. On the way down I went to the Greenville Drive game where they just happened to be playing the Rome Braves. I persuaded the security team to let me into the radio booth to see my old Rome Brave announcer Kevin. It was great seeing him in his natural environment and how he operated when the 2015 Rome Braves went to work. My old teammates were good to see too but I didn’t want to bother them while they were working. All in all a good start to the trip south.
The next morning when I reached Florida I texted the trainers saying how I am looking forward to being there and ready to get to work. The only problem was that they were not ready for me to be there and basically told me to turn around and go home. Hate to see it. If only I listened! In the end it was okay, I left my car down there and flew back which put some strain on the car situation but it will be a good story down the road.
The next time I came back I was in Florida ready to throw. The only problem was that I was not cleared to be at the Cardinals complex. I was on my own to start the throwing program. With that being said I did what any reasonable ball player would do and scouted out the high school tournament at the fields to find a throwing partner. I went equipped with two gloves as well as my tape measure to make sure we had the right distances for my protocol. I’d find a random dad and son that looked ready to catch a ball from 20 feet away. That worked well for the first week or so when I was getting back into the game. I also used my trusty friend the wall.
From there I networked with a few high school kids and found out that they have a fall league that runs in the fall a few days a week. I would show up before their games and get ready to throw, ask a kid if they wanted to catch a few at the required distance and then help out with their prep for the game. It would have been hard to play catch outdoors in either Illinois or Michigan and this was one of the reasons I wanted to come down and be with the team. This was my schedule for a few weeks until the middle of November.
When November rolled around I already laid out my entire plan/schedule for throwing until February like I was told. A week and a half before I was heading back for Thanksgiving the trainers decided I could be a part of the training at the complex just not throwing. That was nice as I met a few more rehabbers before my “official” check up in December. December was when I was considered officially arrived in rehab.
The December check in went well. I was officially part of the gang which meant I could show them how my arm is feeling during my throwing. There was some confusion at first because it was seven months post surgery but I was only at 60 feet. For some reason the protocol I received had me start at 20 feet, work to 90 feet, then back to 45, all the way back to 150 eventually. This was not the normal throwing schedule. From my research talking to other guys that have been throw surgery they started at 45 feet, and never returned to it. Their progression was constantly increasing the stress without the deload. It wasn’t in my control as I was following the doctors orders to the letter but now that I have been here full time since last week I am back on track with where I should be.
Then it happened. I had not thrown a baseball since last year. It was now 2019 and it was the year that I would be back, on the mound. I said goodbye to my guys at the Varsity Shop Training center and it was time for another round of official rehab business.
The rehab group arrived and went back to work on Jan 3 and then on Monday the instructional league has been practicing. We are all working towards the same goals but right now rehab is in the shadows. If we look back at my instructional league time with the Braves this is a different setup with the Cards. The Cardinals do it in January which is different than most teams that do September. Then they have an older group this year that is saying to the guys that they are the future of the team and can contribute to the big league club. This is a prep for them to get used to being back in Florida and making sure they know what is expected of them. When instructs needs an area they get the area, and when they are in the locker room we are out doing things on the field. It has been great seeing my teammates from the season and getting a recap on how their seasons went. The first week is about to wrap up which means everyone is caught up with my rehab process.
As of Friday, Dr. Paletta has reaffirmed my protocol and now I know that I am on the right track to be back on the mound soon. The plan, as of today, is mound in February, games in March, the real deal in April. That matches up well with what I had planned originally on my calendar. It has been fun to far in rehab and my arm is feeling good with how much we have been stressing it. The mound is a whole new level of stress and fatigue on my arm.
Recap: Been rehabbing, things going well, in Florida now hanging until further notice.
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