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Hey Columbus Sports Fans!

I’m sure everyone is getting ready for the Buckeyes to kick off another great season (Sorry I can’t say the same for all you Browns and Bengals fans. It’s just not going to happen anytime soon). Anyways, while all of the football camps and preseason games are going on, we are wrapping up the long minor league season. A minor league schedule consists of 142 games unlike the 162 games in a major league schedule. There are only a few weeks left and many of the other players have started counting down the days…17 games left to be exact, but who’s counting?

Last week I was put on the 7-day DL for the first time in my career. Since “Tommy John” surgery back in 2007, I’ve had a few shoulder issues that have kept me out of games here and there, but nothing too serious. Last week, there came a point where I couldn’t put my hand on my hip without it hurting the front part of my shoulder. At first, I thought it might be a labrum or rotator cuff problem, but the trainers were convinced it was bicep impingement. This was one day before a six-day road trip, so basically terrible timing on my part. If I could have held out one more day, I would have gone on the road trip, pocketed all the meal money, and avoided the DL.  Nevertheless, I was put on the 7-day DL and sent back down to the Gulf Coast League (Rookie Ball) where I spent most of May and June. I was obviously bitter about being sent down and worried that they might keep me down there for the rest of the season. After a couple days of not throwing and rehabbing each day, I felt the tightness go away. I long-tossed a couple days after that, threw a bullpen, and was sent back to Dunedin on Monday night.

Even though no player wants to ever think about going on the DL, sometimes there are bumps in the road that need to work themselves out. With the long season, there are bound to be times with fatigue and tightness, or maybe even just a streak of bad outings. Ironically, Scott Downs, the closer for the Blue Jays is rehabbing with our team right now and gave us some great stories in the bullpen last night. One thing he emphasized was to never pitch when you’re hurt. Baseball mechanics involve a sequence of reoccurring actions and if one part of the sequence is broken, the whole mechanical process will break down. Scott’s foot was broken which in turn threw off his weight distribution, arm angle, and accuracy. He admitted there was a 6-day period where he blew two saves and got a loss, and all of that could have been prevented if he had not tried to play through the foot pain. I can empathize with Scott’s competitive nature, but he’s definitely right.Thanks for reading!

Tags: dunedin blue jays, minor league baseball