The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Bauer out of walking boot in rehab from stress fracture
Trevor Bauer is out of his walking boot, but not out of his angry funk.
The Indians starting pitcher is on the disabled list because he suffered a stress fracture of his right fibula when hit by a line drive off the bat of Jose Abreu of the White Sox on Aug. 11. His return is projected for mid-to-late September.
Bauer met with reporters in the home team clubhouse at Progressive Field on Aug. 28 prior to the Indians playing the Twins in the first of a three-game series. He did not smile.
“Yesterday, I was out to 320 feet long toss, did some pulldowns, threw off the mound a little bit,” Bauer said. “I’m bootless, in normal cleats. I felt fine. I’m still conscious that it’s there, obviously, but everything feels fine.”
You might think Bauer would be happy to be making such progress with the start of the postseason still five weeks away, but no.
Asked whether he is ahead of schedule, Bauer would only say: “That’s a great question. I don’t know. Talk to the trainers,” knowing the trainers were unavailable to the media.
Bauer, 27, was angry and frustrated when he had to go on the disabled list for the first time in his career. Time is healing the wound in his leg — not the one in his mind.
“You can probably hear it in my voice,” Bauer said bitterly. “The one thing I’m better at than anybody else is the one thing keeping me out right now, through no fault of my own. So it pisses me off. “
Bauer was having a Cy Young Award-worthy season. He is 12-6. When he went on the DL, he led the American League in innings pitched (166), home ERA (1.87), games started (25, tied for first) and quality starts (20), while ranking second in strikeouts (214), third in ERA (2.22), fourth in strikeouts-per 9.0IP (11.6) and fifth in opponent batting average (.205).
Pitching, though, is not what Bauer believes he does best.
“Staying on the field,” Bauer said. “Taking care of my body. Being durable. I hit the DL because I got hit on a freaking line drive, not because I can’t handle a workload or take care of my shoulder or I’m lazy with my recovery or whatever.
“So I’m just sitting here, and all of my personal season goals are slowly drifting away because I took a line drive off the ankle.”
Indians manager Terry Francona seemed unaware Bauer ditched the walking boot a week ago, according to Bauer’s estimation. The Indians were in Boston playing the Red Sox while Bauer was rehabbing back in Cleveland.
“I don’t know,” Bauer said. “I’ve lost track of time. I’ve been here for, like, nine hours a day for the past two weeks doing stuff, so I don’t really have a good perception of what day it is. I just know what I need to do next.”
Then Bauer outlined his daily routine:
“Warmup, soft tissue, pool workouts, contrast, ice, recovery modalities, nutrition, lifting, throwing, cardio, positioning correctives and then I go home and do three more hours of recovery.”
Francona would talk about holding Michael Brantley back in the spring if Brantley tried to do too much while recovering from ankle surgery. Francona is convinced Bauer will have no setbacks despite Bauer’s maniacal regimen.
“I don’t think we want to hold him back,” Francona said. “As long as he’s not hurting himself. We love the fact that he’s pushing. That’s what most guys do. They want to play.
“In the meantime, he’s just got to heal. But I think we all know his arm is going to be in great shape when the time comes.”
Players recovering from injuries often make a rehab appearance in a minorleague game. Bauer won’t get that chance if the Indians’ minor-league affiliates are not in the playoffs by the time Bauer is cleared to pitch.
“In Trevor’s instance, there may not be games,” Francona said. “But if his arm is in shape, maybe he only pitches for us. That would be the best, I think, if he pitches for us couplethree times before the season is over. That would be terrific. I don’t know if that’s going to be the case or not.”
Notice Francona did not say “before the playoffs start.” He takes nothing for granted, even with a 13-game lead in the American League Central Division.