He’s sprinting. He’s hitting and throwing with no restrictions.
Mitch Garver has only one hurdle to clear. It just happens to be the biggest.
A month removed from suffering a groin contusion and undergoing emergency surgery after he was struck by a foul ball, the Twins catcher is close to crouching behind the dish once again. Throughout his career, Garver, the team’s most improved player in 2019, has shown a knack for returning from injury as quickly as possible. But as he mentally prepares for the challenge, Garver has wisely taken a slow approach and is sacrificing a quick return for long-term health.
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“It’s a little bit different than like a sprained ankle or something,” Garver said. “This is something that lasts forever. This is like a concussion or something that can affect the rest of your life, so we chose to take it a little bit slower than normal.
“Being smart about it, taking it a day at a time, making sure you’re ready. You don’t want to get back in a game with any apprehension.”
As Garver prepares to squat again, there undoubtedly is hesitation in his mind.
The June 1 contest at Baltimore was only four pitches old when Trey Mancini fouled a slider straight back and down into Garver.
Garver immediately toppled headfirst into the ground. A player who rushed back in June 2019 and missed only 17 games after suffering a high ankle sprain lay there for several minutes before he had to be helped off the field.
“This is about a painful of a situation as I think you could really ever see,” manager Rocco Baldelli said at the time. “It wasn’t just like he couldn’t play because it was a contusion to his … we called it a groin contusion. … This is beyond painful.”
Garver has played through all kinds of pain before. Several times earlier this season, Garver took a foul ball off his knee and managed to remain in the game.
This was different.
“(I remember) calling my wife from the ER and telling her that I was going into surgery,” Garver said. “That’s about it.”
Garver had surgery that evening. The swelling lasted for several weeks. His stitches weren’t removed until two weeks ago.
The progress has been slow, but that’s by design. Baldelli and Twins coach Bill Evers have been at the forefront of advising Garver on how to proceed. Baldelli endured years of trying to figure out what the medical condition was that ailed him before he had to retire at age 29.
Meanwhile, Evers suffered a similar injury at spring training in 2009. Tampa Bay Rays minor-leaguer Anthony Scelfo inexplicably yanked the first pitch of batting practice under the batting cage near the wheel and drilled the team’s field coordinator, who was standing 20 feet away, in the midsection with a one-hopper. When three days of ice and treatment didn’t work, Evers went to the hospital and immediately underwent surgery. Evers needed five weeks before he returned to action.
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“The pain, the suffering,” Evers said. “The biggest part is he now has to get over the mental part of it. It’s a situation where we need to progress in the drills, and that’s where we’re at now. We have to make sure he’s comfortable going back there because you can’t be thinking about it. It’s a reaction-type situation, and he has to understand the foul ball can happen at any time, but there’s nothing you can do about it.
“We’re competitors and want to be out there. In 2019, we were winning all the time and he wanted to be part of that winning. Now we’re losing. He wants to be out there to make a difference. ‘We get you want to be out there, and I understand. But we want you to be able to stay out there. We want you out there when you feel comfortable and ready to play every day. We want to do what’s best for you.'”
There briefly had been talk that Garver hoped to start a rehab assignment last week while the Twins were on the road. Those plans were dashed after a trip to the urologist and encouragement that the soon-to-be-father — Garver’s wife is due later this month with the couple’s first child — made sure he was entirely ready.
Ober sweats it out, earns first big-league victory
Baldelli liked the way Bailey Ober threw enough to give the rookie pitcher an opportunity he hadn’t had before. The Twins manager cited Ober’s fastball command and a full complement of offerings to keep him in for a career-high 93 pitches Monday.
Though Ober struggled to throw strikes late, he worked around three walks over his final two frames to earn his first big-league victory. Ober stranded two runners in the fourth and fifth innings, then sweated it out as the Twins held on for an 8-5 victory over the Chicago White Sox. Max Kepler homered twice and Nick Gordon tripled in two runs for the Twins in support of Ober, who struck out seven over five scoreless innings. Ober limited Chicago to two hits and had 13 swings-and-misses among his 93 pitches.
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“It was big,” Ober said. “Shows that they trust me getting out of jams, to let me ride in the fifth. … I kind of got a little nitpicky toward the end facing those guys — that’s where the walks came in. But I finished it off and got out of that inning unscathed.
“It’s definitely a special moment.”
Max Kepler does it again 😱pic.twitter.com/cFWVSGk4ss
— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) July 6, 2021
The Twins have been very careful with Ober. Because of injuries, he had never thrown more than 78 2/3 innings in his pro career. The club likes the tall right-hander’s potential and intends to limit how much he throws this season after he hadn’t pitched in a game since 2019. The situation has led Ober to be pulled early, most notably after only 63 pitches and four scoreless innings at Seattle on June 16. But Baldelli thought Monday was the time to stretch Ober out.
“I go back to the way he pitched (Monday) and what he’s looked like, what he’s shown us to this point,” Baldelli said. “Every outing we will not push him to his max, workload-wise, but also it’s not just how many pitches a guy throws. It’s the way he’s going about his business and the way that he’s attacking hitters, and he just looked very good. It was just all the way around, no matter which way you look at it, he looked good. And if you’re going to let a guy go out there and pitch a little more and pitch in a tight jam at the end of his outing, you want it to be on a day where he’s at his best, and I think he was at his best (Monday).”
Donaldson, Cruz out of lineup again
Though Josh Donaldson was out of the lineup again Monday, Baldelli sounded encouraged by the third baseman’s progress. Donaldson exited Saturday’s game early with a tight hamstring, but Baldelli doesn’t think it’s a major issue. Still, Donaldson will have to test out his hamstring thoroughly before he returns.
“We’re going to have him on the field beforehand to have a full (day),” Baldelli said. “He’s going to be playing in the field. He’s going to have to run the bases. We’re going to have to make sure that he can do all those things at game speed and not have any concern going forward. And I think he’s doing fine. He’s walking around, I think he’s in there swinging right now. He’s doing well, but we’re going to have just be fully sure that it’s not something that could go in the wrong direction. But I think he’s feeling pretty good.”
Designated hitter Nelson Cruz also missed a second consecutive game with a sore neck. But the Twins sent Cruz to see a doctor about a chest cold he’s had for several weeks that has had him coughing violently. Cruz has worn a mask when he’s been on the bases the past few weeks as he’s dealt with the cold, Baldelli said. Cruz went for X-rays before the game Monday.
“It’s something he’s been playing with and dealing with, but he can’t stop coughing,” Baldelli said. “And it’s been pretty rough actually. … He’s been playing with this and struggling with it but still going out there and performing.”
(Photo: Scott Taetsch / USA Today)