Fall Ball The Next Step in Irvin's Rehab
By Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
As an elite Pac-12 pitcher, Cole Irvin has learned to take the long view on success. One pitch might be strike three. The next could be hit out for a home run. Dwelling on either does no good.
Over the past eight months, Irvin has used that same approach in his comeback from the Tommy John surgery that sidelined him for his sophomore season this past spring. Some days, he feels ready to throw nine innings. Some days, he feels “Gumby like.”
Just like flushing the last pitch from his mind on the mound, and focusing on the next, so too is Irvin taking his rehabilitation process day by day. “The day I had surgery, I knew I was on my first day of the road to recovery,” said Irvin, who recently passed eight months since his surgery date. “What could I do to get myself better and playing with the Ducks? That’s one thing I’ve been proud of.”
Recovery has involved a series of milestones, and Irvin enjoyed the latest Monday. Four days after the Oregon baseball team began fall practice, Irvin threw at a distance of 110 feet, which he said was “like, the ninth stage of my throwing program.”
Irvin is approaching a huge hurdle in early November, when he’ll throw off a mound for the first time. But he’s not overlooking other hurdles to clear in the meantime, including Monday’s long-toss session.
“It’s a process,” said Irvin, who won a school-record 12 games in 2013, and was sorely missed by a staff that spent 2014 in a constant search for starters to complement Tommy Thorpe and Jeff Gold. “You accept it and know that the routines, the stuff you do methodically every day, yeah, that gets tiring, but know that it makes you better. If I look at myself last month to this month, there’s a dramatic difference.”
Irvin is ahead of Oregon’s other 2014 Tommy John casualty, electric freshman Matt Krook. UO coach George Horton said that “so far, they’re on schedule, no hiccups,” putting Irvin on track to be available on opening day, Feb. 13 at Hawaii, and making Krook available late in the season, unless he opts to redshirt.
Until then, Irvin and Krook are doing “dry work” – going through pitching and fielding mechanics, without throwing – and enjoying the start of fall ball. “You’re mentally drained by the negatives to surgery, but there’s a lot of positives that, if you’re able to overcome all the negatives, there’s a lot to look forward to,” Irvin said Friday from the bullpen in PK Park, as the Ducks assembled for their second fall practice. “And this is one of them.”
In a perfect world, Irvin’s progress would result in his throwing the first pitch for Oregon on Feb. 13 in Hawaii. That’s his goal, too. But he’s comfortable with the notion, too, that perhaps he’ll only be available for limited innings at that point.
Irvin said consultations with other UO pitchers who have had Tommy John surgery, including Clayton Crum and Christian Jones, helped him with the recovery timetable. “If it weren’t for them, I’d be so far ahead of where I should be,” Irvin said. “I’d be trying to rush things.”
That remains an allure. Irvin had been throwing three times per week as fall practice approached. He felt no discomfort, and yet at the recommendation of his orthopedist he dialed that back to twice per week.
“You can’t get comfortable,” Irvin said. “With Tommy John surgery, you can’t get comfortable. Because the moment you do, you’ll take advantage of the situation. You’ll try do too much.”
It’s only September, and there’s no reason for Irvin to push it during the Ducks’ fall practices. Better to continue taking the long view, with an eye toward contributing once the season begins come February.
