Drury opens up about blurry vision history during rehab
TRENTON » Brandon Drury isn’t quite ready to return to the Yankees. But at last, the 25-year-old is finding clarity to the issues that for too long he tried to brush aside and cope with in his own way.
Drury continued his extended minor league rehab assignment from severe migraines Friday night at Arm & Hammer Park.
Playing in Trenton keeps Drury in close proximity to New York as well as Greenwich, Connecticut, where Drury is receiving daily treatment from the organization’s consulting sports medicine chiropractor, Dr. Gil Chimes.
“I just was having an issue with my nerve that was running through from the back of my neck up through my head kind of blocking my vision and making my eyes kind of all jacked up,” Drury said late Friday night after his first game with the Thunder. “Just doing a lot of treatment and different kinds of treatments on my neck and all through up the side of my head to kind of relieve that pressure. And it cleared my vision.”
Batting in the 3-hole against Harrisburg, Drury went 1-for-3 including a sac fly. His other at-bats resulted in a single on a chopper through the hole at shortstop, a lineout to center, a six-pitch walk and a strikeout looking at a pitch on the outside corner.
He also converted all three of his putout chances at third base — two sharp grounders and a popup in foul territory.
While Drury has no physical limitations — he played the entire game Friday — the duration of his rehab remains indefinite. After landing on the disabled list April 7, he played eight games with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre before being transferred to Trenton.
He says his vision is “much better” than it has been in the last couple years, but more treatment is necessary.
“That’s what’s kind of frustrating is, I feel so good physically and strong and ready on both sides of the ball,” Drury said. “It’s just I have something that’s just kind of holding me back a little bit. But like I said, we’re on the right path to getting back out there.”
Drury can vividly remember his last season without any vision problems. It was his second pro season in 2011, when he played for the Danville Braves, one of the Atlanta Braves’ rookie ball affiliates. He earned Co-MVP honors with Eddie Rosario in the Appalachian League after slugging .525 in 63 games.
The bouts with migraines began in 2012 — three years before he debuted in the major leagues with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Yankees acquired him in a three-team trade this February.
“I don’t believe anybody’s more prepared than me when the time comes as far as just knowing what the pitcher’s going to throw and my timing and the velocity and everything like that,” Drury said. “So I feel like there are times I could still have some success even if I can barely see the ball at all just because I’m so prepared and so locked in and I think I know exactly what the pitcher’s going to do.”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone recently told New York media that the tricky part of the rehab is there isn’t a specific test Drury has to pass. Concussions, for example, have a protocol.
The Yankees simply must monitor how Drury is feeling as he undergoes treatment and takes more reps on the field.
“It’s not something that’s going to come up on an MRI,” Drury said. “It’s deeper than that. Only I know what it’s like to play through that, and to be able to play through how my vision was for years and to be able to put up OK numbers, it’s definitely very encouraging to think if I can get my vision back right to where I need to be and I don’t have to play with that blur, what I can really do, that excites me. And to finally get some answers for the first time in years on what it is is definitely exciting.”