Mize emerges stronger after long journey from surgeries
We have no idea what Casey Mize went through during the last two years when he was battling his way back from back and elbow surgeries. We can only imagine the despair, the worry and doubt, wondering if his career might be over before it ever got a chance to start. We can only imagine the slow, mind-numbingly repetitive early stages of the rehab process, the nearly impossible restraint and discipline it must’ve taken to stay focused on those first baby steps and not get defeated by that light still unseen way down at the end of a long, dark tunnel.
“Confused, scared and clueless.” That’s how Mize described it.
We also didn’t know the extent of his pain before the surgeries. And that is the truly remarkable part of this. He made 30 starts in 2021 and, though he did his best to ignore its pleas, his body was crying out for a correction.
“I had nerve pain down my left leg,” he said on Saturday, the first time he’s shared this part of his story. “That’s the issue I had; sciatic-nerve pain down my left foot. I couldn’t straighten my leg. When I landed, I couldn’t straighten it or else it would shoot nerve pain up my leg.
“Physically, my body was saying, ‘Stay out of those positions, it hurts!’ It hurt like that for a while.”
Was it any wonder, then, that the velocity on Mize’s fastball would dip from 93 and 94 mph to 90 and 91? Is it any wonder that his secondary pitches weren’t as consistently crisp? Is it any wonder that the ligaments in his elbow started to fray and ultimately tear?
Flash ahead now to Sunday. Mize’s fourth start back. Six innings of scoreless baseball in a 6-1 win over the Twins.
His fastball velocity is back up to 95 mph on average and hitting 97 and 98. It’s a weapon for him now, an attack weapon, one he is no longer afraid to use even in batter-friendly counts. And the reason for that is — apart from the 20 pounds of healthy weight he added during his rehab — he can stick that left leg in the dirt solidly and use it as a fulcrum in his delivery.
“Coming down the mound, I wasn’t able to do the lead-leg block and I was losing a lot of that energy transfer from the ground
out of the hand,” Mize said. “That’s why I was 91-92 or whatever. Now I’m able to stick that front foot in the ground and transfer energy out the hand really well and the ball is coming out a lot better.”
The last two years were a mostly dark time for Mize. But he has emerged with an improved quality of life
and as a completely different pitcher.
“I’m not going to say I’m glad I went through it,” Mize said. “But in a weird way I was fortunate in the fact that I was able to take a step back, take a breather and look in the mirror and see where I could improve and change some things. That’s positively affected the way I go about my day to day and the way I prepare and recover and train, the way I interact in the clubhouse with the guys.
“It made me appreciate just how much I enjoy competing again. It was a new perspective for me.”
That competitiveness was his dominant trait Sunday. Because even though he put up zeroes for six innings, it was a scuffle — with himself as much as with the Twins’ hitters.
“It was a battle for me from pitch one,” he said. “Had a long inning in the top half of the first and then the 89-mph heater to start the game was not great. It was a battle. But if I can leave the game and there’s a zero in the run column, it’s hard not to be happy with that.”
Though, judging from his words and from manager AJ Hinch’s assessment of the outing, Mize was far from happy with his performance.
“He’s a competitor, man,” Hinch said. “He doesn’t allow himself to accept a good performance. He wants to be great.”
The Tigers have won the four games Mize has started, but Sunday was his first actual pitcher win since Aug. 24, 2021.
“I always want the guys to think we can win when I pitch,” Mize said. “That’s the goal of every starter. I’m glad I’ve been able to keep us in it. The team scoring early today really allowed me to have the confidence to really just try to shove the ball in the strike zone.”
He was blowing on his hand and rubbing the back of his neck throughout the game, hoping to get some kind of moisture on the dry baseballs. His fastball did tick up but he never did find a feel for his slider. Luckily, his splitter started biting around the fourth inning and that bailed him out.
He doubled his swingand-miss total with five whiffs in the fifth inning, all with the splitter.
“I just couldn’t get ahead in counts and didn’t land as many sliders as I wanted early on,” he said.
“The split showed up late which was really good. But my off-speed stuff, I just wasn’t able to land. Mechanically, I was just a tick off.”
And yet, he went six scoreless innings and faced just three hitters with a runner in scoring position.
“Casey was awesome,” Hinch said. “But it wasn’t without a fight and some grind.”