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Anything to get on the field

Tommy Salemy couldn't stand being limited to a designated hitter's role.

By MIKE READLING, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 2, 2002

TAMPA -- Baseball the past year hasn't been the game Tommy Salemy fell in love with when he was 4 years old. So he thought he'd try it from a different angle.

First, there were the bone chips in his right elbow, formed by years of an irregular throwing motion. The injury required surgery. That was followed by a torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder that kept him from throwing a ball more than about 30 feet, relegating Salemy to a designated hitter's role for Seminole Presbyterian.

Sitting in the dugout, the field was a few steps away. For Salemy and his sore right arm, it was a lot farther. Enter the chain-link fence.

In order to get back on the diamond full time, Salemy had to undergo surgery or perform one of the toughest tasks a righty can face -- teach himself to throw with his left arm.

After having surgery to remove the bone chips from his elbow, not to mention that another run-in with the scalpel likely would end his high school career, Salemy opted for the latter.

He and his father are regulars at a nearby baseball field -- Salemy hitting, his dad pitching. Earlier this season, Salemy started using the time while his father retrieved balls to stay behind and pound a chain-link fence with left-handed throw after throw.

The idea was to become used to the motion, memorize the feelings and sensations, teach a 16-year-old body a new trick. The result isn't a pretty sight, his coach said, but it gets the job done.

"You can tell he's not supposed to be throwing left-handed," J.J. Pizzio said. "It's not like he gets up there and looks like Randy Johnson or something. He looks like a kid who's trying to learn how to throw left-handed. I almost feel like I have to explain to people when he's out there doing it because it does look kind of funny."

Salemy said "it doesn't feel normal."

After about a month, Salemy figured he was ready to return to the field.

"He told me he wanted to play first base and throw left-handed," Pizzio said. "I looked at him and said, "You can't throw left-handed. Get off of my field.' I thought he did it as a joke, but he was just trying to find his way on the field again. He just got tired of sitting down there watching the game, so he picked up a left-handed glove and started playing around with it.

"He's a kid (who's) very self-motivated, understands what he needs to do," the coach said. "Ultimately, he's going to be a very successful young man. That's Tommy Salemy for you."

Pizzio's permission to play the field came with one caveat. The junior had to be able to make the throw from first to second base and the half relay from the outfield to home plate. Salemy did both, took his left-handed glove to first and escaped baseball player hell.

As a designated hitter, once every two or three innings he got to get out of the dugout and take a few swings. After that, it was right back to the dugout to watch and support his teammates, pining away for that next at-bat.

"I would stretch, jog down the side of the field, anything to keep loose and try to stay in the game," Salemy said. "It was hard sitting there not doing anything. There's something about being on the field that makes you feel like you're part of the team."

But Salemy was a big part of the squad last season, whether he felt like it or not.

He was one of the Lancers' biggest offensive threats as the DH after starting the season at shortstop.

Salemy served as the designated hitter through a run to the district title. He was the DH when the Lancers advanced through the region playoffs and, as much as it pained him, he was in the same position when Seminole Presbyterian made its first state tournament appearance at Legends Field against Arlington Country Day. Getting the team's first hit only soothed the pain a little.

"I can't stand to sit in a dugout and just go out and hit," Salemy said. "I just wanted to play. I wanted to be on the field where professional players used to play because that's not something that's going to happen to you everyday."

Pizzio felt Salemy's pain and put him in at second base in the last inning with the Lancers losing 12-2.

"He had one ball hit to him, and he could barely get it to the first baseman," Pizzio said. "It used to hurt him so bad that in between innings he had a little trouble throwing the balls around the infield to the guys."

That's not a problem this season. Salemy can roll the ball with some speed all the way to third base with both arms.

He has played several games at first, picking up all the throws from infielders and even throwing a runner out at second. After a couple weeks, his arm started feeling better and he switched back to throwing with his right hand. He committed two errors in his first game back as a righty at first.

Pizzio has since moved Salemy to rightfield, using his speed to compliment a quick outfield corps.

"The shoulder's fine, I can throw normal now," Salemy said. "But I want to wait a while before I try to make infield throws."

The move takes a little pressure off the right shoulder and keeps the county's leading hitter more focused on the game.

"The throw can be made to where it's easier just by using your cutoff man," Pizzio said. "Ultimately, if you design your game more fundamentally, they don't have to make too many amazingly traumatizing throws during the game. We gamble much less by putting him in the outfield rather than having him in the infield where most of your outs are made.

"He's a baseball player, and he can play just about anywhere you put him."

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