IN FOCUS: RAYS
SPOTLIGHT
When Nicholas Padilla was drafted in 2015, the Tampa Bay Rays didn’t have a lot of appearances on which to judge his work.
The 13th-rounder, who wasn’t drafted out of high school, had pitched in only four games with Grayson County College in Denison, Texas, before he had Tommy John elbow surgery.
“I was surprised I got picked where I was picked,” said Padilla, who had the surgery on April 1, 2015. “Everyone expected me to go right back to college and pitch again and then go higher in the draft. Even when I got picked, my mind was still set on college. I was pretty set on going right back.
“I was pretty shocked when it happened. All of my teammates were surprised themselves. The games I pitched in I did pretty well and for the Rays I guess it was more than enough for them to see.”
Padilla had a 1.90 ERA with 18 strikeouts in 232⁄ innings at Grayson. He sported a 93 to 95 mph fastball (occasionally topped off at 97) and mixed in a curve and changeup as complementary pitches.
He isn’t hitting that velocity yet, but based on what he has been through during the last 15 months of rehab, he’s content.
“I’m not going to say it (the rehab process) is lonely or anything,” said Padilla, who consulted noted surgeon James Andrews and other doctors before deciding to have the surgery. “I have my agent and my family and some awesome teammates that will support me no matter what.
“I don’t care too much about the news and all that stuff. ... The only thing that bothered me was the year-long process. Being out of baseball for a year stunk.”
The end, however, is in sight. Padilla, 19, believes he will be a starter once he returns to action and knows he will be on an innings and pitch limit. As he inches closer to a return date, he’s beginning to let loose more. He threw a pair of bullpen sessions last week and was scheduled to begin
After a 3-5 start to his professional career, Julian Merryweather wanted this year to be different.
So this season, the Cleveland Indians’ 2014 fifth-round pick decided that less would be more.
Less thinking, less worrying, less overanalyzing and more trust in the work that he was doing.
As a result, the Oklahoma Baptist University product has opened the season 7-2 with a 0.98 ERA through 10 starts for Lynchburg (Va.) of the Class A Carolina League. Even though he spent two weeks on the disabled in late May and early June while recovering from a minor shoulder strain, he threw four shutout innings against Salem on June 5 when he returned.
“Last year I got caught up in overthinking,” Merryweather said. “It was paralysis by analysis. I just needed to clear my mind and compete and look at it one pitch at a time. That really helped. I also had just go out and trust the work I was doing in my bullpens, playing catch, all those drills and the work would pay off.
Merryweather spent the winter reading several books on the mental aspect of baseball. He took notes so he could have material to reference during the season, and he said he is far ahead of where he was mentally at this point last season.
“Getting to pro ball, there was a lot more pressure so for me, I was overthinking and holding myself back,” said Merryweather, who didn’t allow an earned run in six of his starts. “It wasn’t a negative point of view or outlook, I was just trying too hard. It works against you sometimes.” throwing live batting practice this week.
“As of right now, I don’t know what my velocity is, but I’m not worried about velocity,” Padilla said. “It’s probably in the low 90s this year. Next year is when you’ll see the velocity jump 1 or 2 miles an hour.”
By next year, Padilla is hoping to be in the Class A Florida State League and perhaps even get a taste of the Class AA Southern League.
That’s still a long way off. In the meantime, he’ll be stepping onto a mound in a meaningful situation for the first time as a Ray in a few ” weeks.
“I never thought I was done,” he said. “You hear all these stories about major leaguers and guys who have had Tommy John. I had two or three guys I was pitching with in college that had Tommy John, so I thought I would be back.”