Major setback

One step away from the major leagues, Oakland A's pitcher Bert Snow sustains an elbow injury that requires surgery. Now he faces a year of waiting and working, with only uncertainly at the end.

By BRANT JAMES

© St. Petersburg Times,
published June 3, 2001

LARGO -- Bert Snow expected to be anywhere but here. Instead of Sacramento or Midland, he's back in the physical rehabilitation clinic for the third time this week, grinding through monotonous exercises so the rest of his body will be ready when his surgically repaired elbow catches up.

It has been nearly six weeks since the Brooksville native has thrown a baseball -- most likely 10 more before he throws one again -- and as he grunts through a series of stretches and drills, both seem a long way off.

At 24, Snow knows his career with the Oakland Athletics is not over and that the "Tommy John" surgery used to repair a torn ligament in his elbow should leave him stronger than he was before. Still, the pitcher hears the proverbial clock ticking.

"I'm not old by any means," Snow said. "Then again, I'm not getting any younger. In baseball, your window of opportunity is only so big. This is a year of my career gone."

It could have been a big year, which makes losing it all the more difficult.

As a member of the Athletics' 40-man roster, and set to be stationed at Triple-A Sacramento, Snow was within a long fly ball of the major leagues. Now he faces a year of waiting, working, with only uncertainly at the end. All he can do is reach short milestones, the first of which comes this week when the annoying gray brace comes off his right arm.

Boys of summer

Summer has meant competition for Snow since he was old enough to throw a baseball.

After a successful career at Hernando High School and Vanderbilt, he was selected by Oakland in the 10th round of the 1998 amateur draft and began a methodical voyage through the A's system.

Last season, Snow led the organization with 27 saves and had 98 strikeouts in 672/3 innings for Double-A Midland. As much as this year meant opportunity, it also bore the thing he said he loves most: the chance to compete.

"This has been one of the toughest battles I've ever had to face," Snow said. "The thing I enjoy most about baseball is competing against the hitter and other team.

"Now I'm at home and I have no means of competing, of filling that void, and it kills me sometimes," he said. "I need something to take my mind off what has happened and kind of go on living life as normal."

Three days a week, Snow focuses that energy on rehabilitation. After 30 minutes of cardio-vascular work, he launches into three hours of light weight-training and stretching with Larry Mayol, a former New York Mets trainer who runs Star Care in Largo.

"Instead of thinking of it as a rehab, I set goals of different strength thresholds by a certain time," Snow said. "That helps me get through."

The ache

It's hard for Snow to believe it all started with that nagging little ache more than 18 months ago, an ache that he pitched through when it was diagnosed as tendinitis.

The ache turned into something different during what would be his last outing of spring training with the big-league club in Arizona.

"It's kind of ironic, because the game I got hurt, it was the best I had pitched to that point," Snow said. "I was pitching to this one batter and, it wasn't like a pop, but kind of a weird sensation. I was kind of like, "Man, something's not right.' "

Snow finished the inning and was met at the dugout steps by his pitching coach and medical staff, which had noticed a daur change in his demeanor.

"I went and saw the trainer right away, and he threw some ice on it," Snow said. "That day a doctor looked at it, and the frustrating part was he said he thought I hyperextended my elbow. That's tough to do, but naturally, that was what I was hoping it would be and it would heal and I could go on from there. Deep down, though, I knew something was not right."

Snow and A's trainers attempted for a week to strengthen the arm, before he was reassigned to minor league camp for further care. Snow stayed in Arizona when camp broke at the end of March, and was placed on the disabled list April 5. He was able to work his elbow back into reasonable shape, but not enough to produce the velocity of a big-league closer.

"It had gotten significantly better, but it was stuck at this stage where I wasn't getting any better," Snow said. "I could throw 85 percent of strength, but once I got over that, I started to feel some pain."

It was then that Snow had to reassess where his potential breakout season would end.

"Nobody knows you're hurt or not unless you tell them," he said. "It was wishful thinking on mine and the trainers' part. But I was in that training room everyday and, once we got it together, we realized I was hurt and it wasn't getting better. It was time to find out."

Once he asked for a magnetic resonance imaging test, the route to the end game proceeded quickly.

Snow was diagnosed with a torn medial ulnar ligament in his right elbow the third week in April. He underwent reconstructive surgery by Dr. James Andrews on May 1.

The procedure, which takes its commonly recognized name from one of the first persons Andrews performed it on -- former major-league pitcher Tommy John -- sounds barbarous. A tendon is removed from the forearm and interwined in a figure-8 around the elbow through holes bored in the humerus and ulna bones. But the graft that mends the joint actually makes the joint stronger, making the Tommy John procedure the "best" surgery for players who require a procedure, according to Mayol.

"Unless someone screws up the rehab or progression," Mayol said, "90 percent come back stronger."

Snow began that process two weeks ago, and he's counting the days to his next pitch one 5-pound curl at a time.

"I can't worry about what has happened," he said. "I can only control what's in my hands now. But I definitely worry about it. This is a year sitting around not getting anything done."

The fixing place

Mayol's client list reads like a who's-hurt of professional sports.

A decade after finishing a 10-year career as head trainer with the Mets, he opened his clinic in 1992 and has helped twist, stretch and ice the likes of Martina Navratilova, Tom Seaver and Jack Nicklaus back into playing shape.

Mayol's immediate agenda with Snow was to maintain all of his other muscle groups while slowly working his elbow back into shape.

"It's a total head-to-toe program," Mayol said. "The emphasis at this stage is on getting a full range of motion in the elbow.

"Next week his elbow brace comes off so we start on the shoulder strengthening," Mayol said. "But right now it's stomach, legs, lower back, core: maintaining all those other condition levels."

Snow is comfortable with Mayol because of his lengthy baseball experience. "I think the real advantage is when you get to functional progressions," Mayol said. "Having been there makes it easier (for me) taking him through it. I know what he goes through when he gets concerned at times."

That helps Mayol maintain not only muscle but hope, an ethereal but essential ingredient in a lengthy process. "He knows the mindset of a baseball player," Snow said. "That helps."

A typical timetable would have Snow soft-tossing by August, throwing from 45 feet when his elbow allows and, if all goes perfectly, pitching competitively in 91/2 months to a year.

"It's like I'll be learning to throw again," Snow said. "They won't allow you to rip roar and let it eat. You have to take baby steps."

There's a lot of those left until next spring, to a point where he learns if he will again be that pitcher on the cusp of the majors.

"It's something I can't really fear or look forward to," Snow said. "Because over time I will get there."

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