Healthy Saunders feels like ‘a kid again’
DUNEDIN, FLA.— It was both retro baseball and vista baseball.
Canadian prospects versus a Hoser-heavy Blue Jays lineup: Fledglings imagining the future, veterans revisiting their sentimental past.
O’Canada Day at the ballpark on St. Patrick’s Day around the world, as the Jays — with five homegrown players in the starting lineup — hosted the Canadian junior team on a molten Thursday afternoon in Florida.
Michael Saunders could have been humming, “I’ve looked at life from both sides now.” Without a cloud in the sky and no illusions either.
“I really don’t think I’d be here today without the help of Baseball Canada,” the 29-year-old from Victoria was saying as his teammates were laying a 12-0 thumping on the gallant, if wildly overmatched, visitors.
As a member of the junior squad in 2003 and 2004, Saunders — like Russell Martin, like Dalton Pompey, like the Canadian luminaries who preceded them in the incubation chamber of the national program, from Larry Walker to Justin Morneau to Ryan Dempster — is beholden to Baseball Canada and the tutelage received under director-coach Greg Hamilton.
“It was my first real taste of international competition,” Saunders recalls, of the team’s foray to Cuba. “It really helped me to believe in myself as a player. It helped propel my career to the professional leagues. It got me prepared more than anything else.”
So, despite having played in the previous night’s loss to the Yankees and perhaps being a tad tired, this was a game Saunders did not want to miss, if only in a three-inning cameo. “I understand that this is a special day not only for them, but for me as well.’’
A pop-up in his only at-bat tugged gently downwards on Saunders’ hitting average but these have pretty much all been special days in Florida for the strapping left fielder, restored to good health and buoyant optimism after the miseries of a year ago. He stepped on that damn sprinkler head at the club’s minor-league facility on the first day of spring training last February, tearing up his left knee in his first official appearance as a Jay and undergoing meniscus surgery, where 60 per cent of the cartilage was removed. He appeared to have undergone a speedy recovery when he debuted April 25, but he struggled for the next few weeks until a bone bruise was diagnosed and he was shut down for the rest of the season after appearing in a mere nine games, relegated to a cheerleader while the Jays went on their stupendous run en route to the post-season.
“The bone bruise was rare,” Saunders said. “It happened because of the injury, not because of the surgery. It was just asymptomatic at the time. But it came back. It was just a matter of time and we had to wait for it to heal.” Waiting . . . waiting . . . waiting . . . Yeah, Saunders has looked at baseball life from both sides now.
It helped somewhat having a doctor for a father and a prognosis that Dad shared with the Blue Jays’ training staff.
“I’ve leaned on my dad throughout my career, growing up. This was just another thing that I leaned on him for. He spoke to a lot of specialists from back home and called his contacts. They all said the same thing. And he reassured me that athletes go through these types of injuries all the time.”
Thirteen months later and Saunders is making the huge impression denied him last spring — three home runs in 11 games at the Grapefruit League bivouacs, among team leaders with a .320 batting average, making hard contact with the ball, free and easy in the outfield.
“Running out a ground ball, beating out a double-play, that kind of stuff put my mind at ease. Now it’s at the point where I’m not even thinking about it anymore. I was just telling my wife that when I proved to myself that I was healthy, it felt like it was my first big league camp all over again.
“For the first few games I was nervous, the butterflies were going. I hadn’t been out there since May. Just pure emotion, a little anxious. But then after a few games, well, the best way I can describe it is like being a kid again.
“Like riding a bike. Not so much seeing the ball but more so the timing, swinging. Luckily I’ve seen a lot of lefties thus far this spring. I’m feeling really pumped in the box right now. Honestly, it didn’t take as long as I thought it might have.”
Others, most notably skipper John Gibbons, had wondered the same thing.
“I’m surprised he was so good so early, because that was a concern. You miss that amount of time, who knows what happens? But he’s not hobbling around at all, that’s the number one thing. You couldn’t tell he missed any time. You hope that holds up. It’s always in the back of your mind — is this going to flare up? So far, so good. “This is big for him.’’ It is fortunate, then, that a rumoured three-way trade last month — purported Saunders to the Angels in roundabout exchange for Reds outfielder Jay Bruce — came to naught, ostensibly because one of the players involved failed his medical. That wasn’t Saunders.
Indeed, Gibbons was so pleased with Saunders’ form and baserunning bona fides that he considered him at leadoff, though that designation, while not entirely writ in stone, is now strongly inclined towards Kevin Pillar.
“Really, there’s only two guys who could fit there,” Gibbons said yesterday. “I’m leaning towards Pillar.”
A left-hitting bat, amidst half-adozen righties through the top of the order, still holds some appeal, however, and Gibbons has slotted Saunders ahead of Martin on a few occasions down here. “I’m not sure where he’ll go. We could go Michael, then Russell, then Ryan (Goins).” Doesn’t matter a whit to Saunders. “There’s a lot of options for Gibby. No matter where I am in the lineup, my approach won’t change.”
And maybe next January, when he returns to B.C. for his 10th straight Baseball Canada banquet, Saunders will have better stories to tell from the dais than the saga of a rogue sprinkler head.