Extended Spring 2019 – Week 4

The extended machine rolls on.  This week was a blast from the past for me and gave me a good chuckle about how baseball is funny.

My task this week was pitching against Canada. If you have been a fan of this blog for a while then you would know that I have already pitched against Canada and written about it here. The years fly by it seems.

This was four years ago to the week almost.  This time I pitched against them a week later than I had that spring in 2015.  I was with a different team then, Atlanta, but I faced off against the same Canadians.

Anyways, I was tasked with throwing the ninth inning. I did something I have never done before, which threw the coaches for a loop. I threw a first pitch curveball out of the bullpen. Even though we were up six runs I wanted to try it and see what happened while also showing that I can throw a first pitch curve.

How the times change.  I was celebrating the fact that I was willing to throw a first pitch breaking ball and now one of the biggest requirements for pitching here is throwing off speed first pitch for a strike. This time around I was old man on campus pitching against a group of guys that were not expecting to face a more experienced Mitchell this time around.

Nationals and Astros Ballpark

The coolest part of this trip, my first road trip to another complex in many moons, was playing in the big league stadium.  This was the same as when I was with Atlanta when we played at the big league Wide World of Sports Stadium.  This big league stadium is home to the Nationals and Astros.  It is one of the newer spring training complexes, and it felt great to pitch in a real stadium.  I notied that there were dozens of scouts in attendance, all to watch Canada, but I know that when I pitch I am pitching for 29 other teams.  That is the saying, pitching for 29 teams, but in my reality it is really 26 other teams left before I hit all 30.

The jog from this bullpen is longer than the jog out from a back field bullpen.  The thrill of pitching after that long jog is part of the process, and this time I was scheduled for another two inning appearance to build up my endurance. The outing was smooth, my body was feeling good, and I am pleased with how it went.  Before the game we were talking about how it was a tricky situation pitching against a lower level team.  If you get rocked it looks bad, but if you dominate then everyone mentions how they are lower level.  The right choice is domination.  There isn’t a reason to throw the ball in there on a tee for them to whack it. I’ve also seen time and time again when high level pitchers come around for rehab and then get knocked around by the young guns.

Another thing I wrote about was my buddy Brady Feigl.  I wrote about his surgery and how we shared the same bond of being out of the game.

I wanted to talk about Brady because he is a guy who helped me out in instructs and knows what it is like to be out of baseball. For him, it was a couple years coaches before he signed. For me, it was a couple months wondering what I could do to keep playing. We have that in common, and I treat it like a brotherhood.

I talked about a brotherhood then, and now we have surgery to share, and I’ve played in a mens league just like him. He is currently in AAA with the Rangers and if all goes to plan I could pitch against him sometime in the future!

As of right now I am still a regular old guy in extended spring waiting on the call.  It feels good to be considered one of the regulars in the group and no longer considered one of the island guys. I’ve decided that I have shown well enough for the Cardinals to decide if I am wanted here. If they want my skill set, then I will be here.  If they look at how I am progressing post rehab and decide it is no bueno, then that is their decision. I’ve busted my butt for the last 11 months to get to this point and now the ball is in their court. I am going to continue to pitch my best and make them see that I am a member of the organization that will benefit them to keep around.

That is where we are at right now.  The wheels of extended and the minor league season roll forward. There are 116 minor league games left by my count and I am ready to be a part of them.

Extended Spring 2019 – Week 2 and 3

The second and third weeks of extended spring are upon us.

Starting off the week on a Tuesday, it was time for my first two inning appearance.  This is part of the protocol for my arm to make sure the endurance is there when needed during the season.  It was a good hurdle to jump through, and I think overall it went well.

In the first inning of my appearance, against Miami again, I did well.  It was a quick inning where I had one strike out and not much else action.  My velocity was holding in the mid 90s which was good but subconsciously I think I held back some knowing that I had a second inning of work afterwards.  That second set of warm up pitching was interesting.  IT was my first time getting hot, warming up, then sitting down and cooling off, only to get hot again.  That is the toughest part about being a reliever, when you have to get up and down a few times without training for it. I’m looking forward to getting my stamina going as extended progresses so when I am on a team I will be ready to roll.

The extended life is the same thing everyday.  The same report times. the same warm ups, the same stretches, the same fundamentals, and then a game everyday at noon.  After my first two inning appearance I was slated for an inning on Friday.  Following the Friday inning I was scheduled for a Saturday live batting practice.  This is to test my ability to bounce back on a shortened rest.  The shortest rest there is besides pitching twice in one day. Throwing on back to back days isn’t as common in low level minor league baseball compared to the big league game.  This is to protect the younger arms, and because the minor leagues have more flexibility on their rosters. In my case, it is to test how my new arm reacts on a back to back schedule and it is one of the last hurdles that I have to jump before being “cleared”.

My back to back appearances came and went this past few days.  Friday was a day where it was suppose to rain all day.  In the morning at breakfast it was pouring down rain and that always gets the people going.  The rumors of no way we are playing today start swirling and then next thing you know the sun is beaming through the clouds at 11 am.  It was quite the weather swap but I am glad that I got my inning in rather than waiting for this upcoming week to get it done.

A Marlin

Friday was against the Marlins and Saturday was more controlled live batting practice session.  The Marlins have been the only team I have thrown against so far, which is always fun seeing those sweet teal jerseys in the box. It is good practice for the AA league which has 8 total teams, and you play 30 or so games against the same three teams for most of the season.  It also reminds me of an old coach with the Braves that told me if you are anybody in the league, everyone already knows what you throw, and you execute it better than they are ready for. I thought that Friday went well, as it was my first time pitching after the two inning appearance, and the arm felt good.  I’ve been having muscle soreness in different parts of my arm, but thankfully not in the UCL area of the elbow. I knew that coming off surgery and going into pitching that I would have a “new normal” as far as arm issue and soreness goes.  My arm will never be like it was before the surgery, and the different aches and pains I have are part of the healing process.

Friday featured a nice quick 18 pitch outing which was perfect to come back from on Saturday for another 20 pitches during my live batting practice. It was a low key affair compared to my previous live batting practice against Bader with some big coaches, as well as fans watching it play out.  The beginning of rehab t was just the players and the training staff.  As of a month or so ago the rookie ball pitching coach has paid more attention to us.  He is actively trying to help us with our deliveries and strategies to keep us out of rehab in the future.  It is a nice change rather than asking our medical staff if the ball looks good coming out of our hands. The biggest thing so far is that sitting into your legs more helps you protect your arm.  It is fun to look at my pitching footage from 2014 and see how far I have come.  The old Mitchell was heavy arm focused, and now I use my legs much better but there is always room to grow.

It has been 11.5 months since my surgery.  The back to back appearances are under my belt.  In the mind of the medical staff, they feel comfortable saying that if needed I am available to pluck off the extended roster.  I don’t know what will happen next, it is a tricky spot coming out of extended and not pitching in a game for over a year.  The misconception of rehab is that the second you are healthy you get to leave.  That isn’t how it works.  I get to wait around and continue to work on my craft, waiting for an opportunity, one that might come, one that might not. The good news is that if needed I am ready, and I feel good with where my arm is after 11.5 months.  There is a different kind of stress on my mind now, the stress of if I get a chance to pitch for a team again, and if I do, it counts.  It isn’t just another back field game but a real game instead.  It goes back to the balance beam metaphor, and the balance beam gets a higher off the ground the higher level you go up.  I don’t know what the traditional full rehab time is, but I know where my arm is at.  I want to thank everyone who has checked here and wondered how my elbow was doing, and that I am i looking forward to updating the next step of the 2019 season.

There are still about 120 games left in the minor league season, depending on which league, and I am excited to have a chance to contribute to one.  Extended spring goes until June 1, and if nothing happens by then, well we will cross that bridge when we get there.  Thank you again everyone who has been following and from this point on I am considered just a regular dude in extended waiting for an opportunity.

My ship has cast off from port and I am ready to leave the island. 😀

Leaving Rehab Island

Extended Spring 2019 – Week 1

Extended is upon us.  The five day break is over and the boys are back in town.  We were given the option that we could head home as long as the team knew where we were at.  If there was a change in the rosters over the five days then they needed to know how to locate you.  I heard a few guys that thought they were going to extended only to end up in the Peoria group.  The opposite can happen and over the five days we had a few new faces from full season clubs that made the trek back to join extended.

What is extended spring? It is spring training for the rehab islanders and the guys that were not put on the full season rosters.  There are guys here that played in rookie ball last year and didn’t quite make the roster for a full season team.  There are also guys who played in short season ball last year and they will do the same this year.  There are scattered older guys in extended like myself who are coming off an injury or instead of being on the phantom injured list, they are here so they can get reps in.  The reps of extended are better than sitting on the couch in an affiliate, going through the motions, and knowing each night you won’t play.  I’ve been there.

The coaching staff of extended is made up of the lower level minor league coaches.  We have the short season A ball coaches, and the two rookie ball level coaches.  I like the coaches that are down here, and think they can help me with my development coming off a surgery.  I was disappointed that my spring ended without me throwing, but the universe works in mysterious ways.

The first game of extended on Monday was April 8.  The last time I threw against a different team in a game setting was April 8, 2018.  The groin setback that cost me a few spring outings had set me up for a game that was exactly one year after my injury. The opponent then was Jupiter, a Marlins affiliate, and the opponent Monday was the Marlins extended team.  It was a funny morning seeing my name on the list of people throwing in the game, even though this was the plan all along to get an inning the first game of extended.  I tried to eat breakfast and act like it was a normal morning but my appetite was non existent.  All I thought about was being in a game again.  The umpire, the defense behind me, the other team not sure who I am, all of it.  Even if it was just a “meaningless” back field game, it meant a lot to me.

It was windy, it was hot, and it was fun.  In the grand scheme of things, there wasn’t a whole lot going on in the game, but for me it was a big step in the right direction.  The last time I was in a game if we look back, my arm did not agree with me.  There was no thought in my mind about my arm hurting again or my brain telling me to slow down. The strangest part was seeing an umpire.  Hello old friend Mr. Umpire.  I’ve been thinking about this post for a bit about how I could convey the emotion in my body during my warmups and jogging onto the field.  I can’t think of the right ones.  The words are there like excited, nervous, sped up, all of the above, but ultimately when the ball started flying I didn’t think of anything else.  My catcher has caught in the big leagues, and having him behind the plate was cool.  It gave me a calming presence behind the plate where I knew if things went south, he would have positive advice for me.  That is an underrated aspect of being a catcher, the ability to get your pitcher back on track during a mound visit.

I don’t remember much in the way of what was happening on the field around me during the first hitter.  I remember thinking that I wanted to get ahead, throw it to the mitt, and get out of there quick to set a good impression.  I knew that no matter what happened the main goal is to feel normal. If I struggled and my arm felt good, that is still a step in the right direction.  The good outing bonus would help my mental stress, but it wasn’t required as part of the rehab process. It was weird afterwards as the feedback I got from the coaching staff was non existent.  I think the players thought more about my outing than the coaches.  They looked at it as business as usual, which makes sense, and since I was not with this group much in spring training they might not have known it was my first time in a year.  It was also coming off about three weeks of non activity with my leg, and my third time throwing breaking balls to hitters.  The universe added it all up and said hey you are going to throw one year later and it will be like riding a bike.

If a balance beam is a foot off the ground, there is no problem if you fall off. If the beam is twenty feet in the air then the circumstance around your fall has changed. When pitching in the bullpen, there is nothing else going on besides throwing the ball. Then you get into the game and you have a hitter, an ump, stakes at play during the game. It is the exact same situation with different circumstances. As a pitcher you can’t control the circumstances surrounding your game, but you can control yourself. That is what I am looking forward to the most going forward.

The schedule for this week is to throw two innings tomorrow. I will follow that up with one inning on Friday and one inning on Saturday for a back to back appearance. When the back to back appearances are complete, I phase out of rehab island. What does this mean? Well it means I am available for whatever comes next. If Palm Beach needs a guy or anyone else needs a guy my body is ready. I am trying not to get caught up in the results of extended spring training, noting that my health is the most important thing. If I am healthy after this week, I can say that I am in a good spot physically.  The two innings will be a good test because as we know, there are not a whole lot of one inning relievers in the minors.  That specialized role comes as you go higher into an organization.  The back to back throwing to hitters will be another good opportunity to see how my body responds to that stress.

I am in the transitioning phase for another week.  If all goes to plan, I can say that I conquered rehab island.  If you start to get comfortable in Rehab Island then it is not a good sign.  The point of the game is to play against other people, and the point is to get out of rehab as fast as possible. The cocoon of healing that is rehab is a good thing, but I want to spread my wings back onto the field of play.  The chance that I will come back is all I am looking for, and knowing that after this week I get the chance is keeping me going.  From there it is up to the Cardinals to make a decision about my future.

The good news for me is that there are still 129 minor league games this season.  There is plenty of time for things to happen.