Wright takes patient path
FORT MYERS — Before understanding what All-Star knuckleballer Steven Wright is going through this spring, one must understand what happened last August.
It’s a cloudy story, but Wright now sees it clearly. He accepts what happened and has no hard feelings. He still trusts the Red Sox training staff, and he refuses to worry.
Worry about his shoulder strength?
“We’re going in the right direction,” he said.
Worry about the month delay in his start time this offseason affecting his availability for Opening Day?
“I don’t look at the calendar,” he said. “I’m not worried about the next week. I’m worried about today and tomorrow.”
Worry about winning a spot in the Red Sox rotation, which has two spots for three pitchers in Wright, Eduardo Rodriguez and Drew Pomeranz?
“I throw one pitch. I just have to go out there and throw it,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s the first inning, the fifth inning or the sixth inning.”
Worry about his pride taking a hit after making the All-Star team as a starter and now having to fight for a rotation spot?
“I throw a knuckleball man,” he said. “Can’t have pride with a knuckleball.”
The smiling, soft-spoken California dude who studied at the University of Hawaii clearly isn’t stressing about his current situation.
It all started in August, after manager John Farrell called on Wright to pinchrun against the Dodgers two days after he pitched a complete-game shutout. Dodgers pitcher Joe Blanton made a move toward second base, and Wright had to dive back to the bag, injuring his shoulder with a rough landing.
And while Wright has nothing bad to say about Farrell and blames himself, he’s using the weeks following the injury to help him understand how he can get healthy this spring.
Remember, Wright was supposed to be out of action for an extended period of time but returned to make his next start less than three weeks after the injury. The belief was the Sox rushed him back, but that’s not how he sees it.
“I wouldn’t say we rushed back,” Wright said. “We definitely tried to progress it as fast as we could because we’re potentially in the playoffs. I wouldn’t go out there if I (felt like I was) going to hurt myself.
“The injury wasn’t worse than what we thought. It just didn’t recover as good as we thought it would.”
On Aug. 26 against Kansas City, all eyes were on Wright. His velocity was about 2 mph lower than it had been three weeks earlier. His knuckleballs were getting hit. After allowing eight homers in his first 22 starts, Wright served up two in six innings of a 6-3 loss.
“If you look at that Kansas City game, I know it wasn’t great, but I thought I could still go six innings and throw 100 pitches,” he said. “It’s just the recovery and ability to come back which was a struggle. That was the biggest issue. It just never got better from that.”
His shoulder never recovered. He pitched five days later and was even worse. He hasn’t pitched since.
The bursitis has persisted. And it wasn’t until the first week of January, a full month after Wright usually begins throwing, that he was able to start his preparation for spring training. He has a bullpen session today and is scheduled to throw live batting practice Friday. After that? Perhaps another live BP session. Maybe a spring training start.
It’s a slow process, but Wright is determined.
“I wouldn’t say it’s taken longer, it just seems like it’s longer because I started later,” he said. “I have no doubt that if I just stay on the same track and everything goes as well as it has thus far, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be competitive toward the end of spring training.”
Being competitive is one thing. Being the dominant pitcher he was last year is another. It’s conceivable to think he could start the year on the disabled list.
“Obviously last year being a starter was fun, but at the end of the day, we’re trying to win championships,” he said. “You got two other guys (Rodriguez and Pomeranz) who are legit. So wherever they feel like, I’m going to help the team. If it’s in a relief role, then that’s what it is. I don’t really have a preference because I don’t want to limit myself.”
Even though he throws 80 percent to 85 percent knuckleballs during the season, Wright is throwing only 50 percent now, hoping fastballs help build shoulder strength.
“I’m really happy,” he said of his progress.
But he won’t really know he’s ready until a few days after the first time he exerts a full game’s worth of effort from the mound.
It’s been almost seven months, but Wright is staying patient, waiting to feel the warmth of natural healing once again.