Confident Stroman rarin’ to get on mound
Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons was in the middle of his daily media briefing, reclined comfortably in his office chair, when Marcus Stroman bounded into the doorway.
Stroman smiled and pointed at his biceps.
The young starting pitcher had been making the rounds on Friday afternoon, three hours after his arrival. He tossed from the bullpen, embraced teammates, joked with television hosts and smiled. There seemed to be a lot of smiling.
Gibbons called for Stroman just as he turned to leave, inviting him into the office. Instead of wanting to chat, though, Gibbons wanted to concede his chair, ambling out of the room as Stroman took his seat. It was an unusual move.
“I probably shouldn’t be doing this,” Stroman said with a smile as he settled in.
Conventional wisdom once suggested Stroman should not even have been in the building, not a mere six months after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. The 24-year-old was injured during a drill in spring training, and the initial prognosis was that he would recover — but just not in time to pitch again in 2015.
Instead, he was in uniform, back in time for the official team photo on Friday. He was back with one successful rehabilitation start under his belt and another on the horizon, with the suddenly real possibility of pitching for the Blue Jays this month.
“I’m in midseason form, 100 per cent,” he said. “Every single pitch is ready. I’m ready. My knee’s ready. I’m ready to go.”
On Wednesday, he pitched against professional hitters for the first time since March. He threw 4⅔ scoreless innings in a start for the class-A Lansing Lugnuts, toying with the minor-league hopefuls dressed for the Great Lakes Loons. He did not allow a hit through 69 pitches.
He has joined the Blue Jays for the weekend. On Monday, he is scheduled to start for the Buffalo Bisons as they play their Triple-A season finale, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island
From there, he could get a start or two before the end of the regular season in Toronto.
“Just really happy and proud with where I’m at, the amount of work that we did,” he said. “I’m just happy to be back, to be around the guys. This clubhouse is fun — I’ve been here for three hours, and you can just tell how positive, how upbeat and motivating and inspiring all the guys are.”
He described his injured knee as “amazing ” and said it “feels great.”
“If anything, there’s going to be a little soreness after, but when I’m out there, I don’t feel it at all,” he said. “There’s no part of my mind that says ‘oh.’ It’s 100 per cent ‘go.’”
Gibbons said the team would have to wait and see what happened on Monday, but said if all goes well, he would likely return Stroman to starting duties, rather than working out of the bullpen.
“At first, I would have said no, I would expect, if he came back, that he’d maybe have to be out of the bullpen a little bit,” the manager said. “But all indications are he may be better than that. We’re going to find out.”