Time makes fools of us all.

At 8.5 months I thought I was ready to pitch in games. I thought I was ready to get back in front of scouts at 10.5 months.  Not so fast.

I don’t know where the time went, but my smooth and swift cruise through rehab got choppy, eventually slowing me down to an idle this summer.  

Yes, at 9 months I could throw within 4 mph of my old best velocity, but those last 4 were apparently on backorder, and I really needed them at tryouts.  They just took more time.  My curve and change were there, but not like they once were.  These last “little” details are actually quite huge in determining the effectiveness of a pitcher, and I just had not anticipated how long it would take before they came back.  Before I knew it, what looked like a very fast recovery turned into a very average recovery.  I wasn’t going to receive any medals for it anyway, but it was still surprising.

One of the biggest problems was the every other day throwing schedule.  It’s just too little throwing per week to really get a feel for throwing offspeed pitches.  I think most need a few hundred reps a week with each the change and the curve to get them consistent, but that is just not possible throwing every other day.  Once I was cleared to throw as much as I wanted (around 10 months) things started to get better in the offspeed and location department.

But even then, these last little bits of what makes a successful pitcher eluded me.  Is 10 months a realistic recovery time?  Physically, yeah.  However to be your old, finely-tuned self (or your new, better self) its likely gonna take more than that. Probably 12-15 months, give or take a few.

Throw in a little bout of tendinitis (I battled the forearm variety last month) and the recovery time can keep on growing.  It’s not always smooth sailing all the way through, and when exactly the finish line is, may be very uncertain.

But, all in all, it can extend that optimism that comes along with this, that the best is still yet to come.  Glass half full, right?