BOSTON — Tim Mayza’s a bit of an oblivious dude. He admits it. It’s probably why he’s a good reliever. He’s stoic, unemotional. He doesn’t get bogged down, won’t over-analyze. He can quickly shrug off unfortunate events. He’s the kind of guy to, say, dislocate his shoulder and figure he’ll be fine in a couple of days.
Honestly. Walking off the field in Minneapolis on Aug. 6 following a home plate collision, his right humerus separated from his shoulder socket, the Toronto Blue Jays left-hander figured he’d get that sucker popped back in and be back on a mound in no time. He’s seen movies. He knows how this works.
“I really didn’t realize the extent of the injury or anything like that,” Mayza says. “I was like, ‘I’ve watched Friday Night Lights. Billingsley popped his shoulder back in and ran 40 yards the next play. I should be able to throw a ball in a couple of days.’”
He could throw a ball that soon, sure. But locating a ball precisely at 94-m.p.h. from a mound is another thing. That part took some time. But perhaps not as long as you would’ve figured, as Mayza was activated from the injured list on Tuesday, only 16 days after suffering a gnarly injury that looked at first blush like it could sideline him for months.
But the quick return is no surprise to Mayza. This was the plan all along. Physicians that evaluated him in the days following the injury told him that a two-to-three week return to competition was realistic if he nailed every step of his rehabilitation — and if he kept his throwing arm active throughout.
That was Mayza’s primary challenge. Finding ways to throw with his left arm without putting too much stress on his right. At first, Mayza threw from flat ground with a large, yellow inflatable ball underneath his right armpit, which helped stabilize his shoulder and limited its movement. Within six days, he was doing the same thing off a mound.
Throughout those early stages of the process, Mayza didn’t catch return throws after a pitch, working with a trainer who would receive them for him. Think about the way an NFL quarterback warms up. It wasn’t until Mayza regained strength, stability, and full range of motion in his shoulder that he was permitted to throw without the big, yellow ball underneath his armpit and to catch return throws.
“Every day it was a lot of strengthening exercises, rotator cuff exercises, slowly getting that full range of motion back,” Mayza says. “It was very much a step-by-step, laid-out process. And it was just a matter of making sure that my shoulder was stable enough to, not only get off the mound, but also to protect myself if a comebacker were to happen.”
In order to simulate that scenario, the Blue Jays placed Mayza in front of a pitching machine and fired balls at him. Directly at first. Then to his right side and his left. Mayza enjoyed the thrill of it. It’s not a drill he’s ever had to perform before.
“I felt like a catcher — it was pretty fun,” he says. “That was just a good gauge of how I was feeling in certain spots, certain positions. Being able to catch, being able to take some [pitcher’s fielding practice,] those were really the final steps to make sure I was ready to go on a rehab assignment.”
Mayza’s lone minor-league rehab appearance was a breeze, and this week he returned to active duty with the Blue Jays, giving the club a left-hander out of its bullpen for the first time since he went down. He worked twice in Toronto’s sweep of the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, allowing a couple hits that didn’t score. With a runner on in the eighth inning of Thursday’s victory, he got a key groundball from one of MLB’s best left-handed hitters — Rafael Devers — to preserve a tie and get his team into the ninth.
That’s Mayza’s role in a Blue Jays bullpen that’s been out-performing expectations for two months. Enter jams, pitch through traffic, face the world’s best left-handed hitting — and put up zeros.
“It’s just so good to be back out there relatively quickly. Any guy who goes on the IL will tell you, it’s like time comes to a standstill,” Mayza says. “You want to be able to contribute. You want to be able to go out there and help the team win. And when you’re not, you kind of feel a little bit helpless at times. Like, ‘Oh, man, I wish I could be out there and just do anything.’”
Of course, Mayza’s shoulder isn’t back to where it was prior to the collision. Soreness comes and goes. He’ll wear a brace while pitching for the time being. He has a long list of daily strengthening work to complete in the weight room as he continues to progress stability.
And he’s planning to keep that big, inflatable yellow ball handy, too. He doesn’t technically need it anymore. But he got used to working with it under his right arm during side sessions and likes the way it feels. Walking around with it during batting practice this week at Fenway Park, Mayza enjoyed another feeling — being back where he belongs.
“It’s going to be a fun stretch here,” Mayza says. “When you’re on the IL, the days are long. You’re doing a lot of rehab to get back. But, next thing you know, you’re throwing and you’re into your progression. And then it starts to go a little quicker. I think every guy that gets injured just desperately wants to come back as soon as possible and contribute in any way they can. So, I’m really looking forward to doing that.”