Marlins' Ramos reflects on his Tommy John experience, empathizes with Fernandez
MIAMI -- Hours after undergoing Tommy John surgery in April 2008, A.J. Ramos entered a classroom on the Texas Tech campus to take a Spanish final.
He did his best to write left handed with his dominant hand and right arm already in the process of healing and in a sling. Though it proved to be difficult, he passed. Then it was straight to work to get back onto the field.
"Spent my whole summer rehabbing," Ramos said. "It's something that I didn't mind because I knew I had to get back. It was a task at hand, had to get back. If I didn't get back in time it would lessen my chance of doing what I'm doing now."
That's why Ramos empathizes with the jumbled combination of anticipation and excitement Miami Marlins ace Jose Fernandez will likely experience leading up to Thursday in his return to the big-league mound.
Ramos, who underwent the procedure in late April 2008, during his junior year as a Red Raider, expedited the process in order to give himself a shot at being drafted and pursuing a professional baseball career.
At the time, the 21-year-old righty didn't know the UCL in his right elbow had torn and kept pitching until two consecutive alarming outings. Ramos allowed nine runs with seven walks and just two strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings at Kansas on April 12. Six days later, he issued four walks and gave up four runs in a frame before being pulled against Kansas State.
Once athletic trainer Shawn Lindsey asked him how he felt, Ramos admitted the truth. Nine starts into his junior season, he required the procedure.
Naturally came the understandable fear of surgery and the uncertain future. Unlike Fernandez, Ramos still needed to prove himself to scouts with one final shot at being selected in the draft. He relied on the support of his family, which also lives in Lubbock, Texas.
"I was a little nervous about it," Ramos said. "It was right in the middle of it. I was a little bit nervous with that because I definitely wanted to come back and make it to the big leagues. I knew that in order to do that I had to make sure I was healthy and come back. Not only be healthy, but have a good senior year to be able to get drafted.
"When you have to do things like that you just find a way to do it. No matter what, get the job done to achieve your goals. I was a little bit nervous with that, but once I started to realize the rehab was going well, 'Now it's on me and my performance.' I was always confident with that."
As Fernandez has learned from the Marlins training staff and physical therapist Ron Yacoub, patience -- or a lack thereof -- will highly affect one's ability to recover. It is the greatest virtue during a trying time. It's counterintuitive to a young adult in sports.
Competitive athletes, masters of their body, must suddenly refrain from the impulse of pushing it to the limit. Working smart and hard go hand in hand.
When Fernandez received the bad news in May 2014, Ramos offered advice having gone through the experience six years earlier.
"Told him it's going to be a tough process," Ramos said. "Me, I work hard, I like to lift weights and everything. But that's a different type of working hard. It's real tedious work and it's something that's tough. You feel like you're ready to go further. I constantly got into fights with my trainer. He did a good job of keeping me in line.
"That's how I was, too, (impatient). I was exactly the same age I think. I was doing the same things. Told him it's going to be a long process. Talked to him four, five days ago, asked him if he was excited and he was like, 'I'm just ready now. I'm not really thinking of anything. Just trying to get through it and getting prepared for my start.'"
Over the past nine months, Fernandez has repeatedly remarked that it's almost as if he never got surgery. Ramos felt the same by his fourth bullpen in early December 2008. Impressed by the velocity -- at least by how the ball kept sounding in his glove -- Lindsey took out a radar gun and saw 92 mph.
By that January, Ramos threw in intrasquad games at Texas Tech just weeks before the season to emulate situations. Fernandez has had the benefit of extended spring training and five rehab starts in the minor leagues.
"I knew I was ready and I felt good," Ramos said. "It was all about getting my timing back and my mechanics back into it. That was the hardest part. Velocity was there. Just the confidence in my pitches needed to come. You can throw as hard as you want, but if you're not confident and throwing strikes it's not the same. ... I was able to throw with that max effort, without pain. I wasn't having that weird pain at night anymore. It was easy. Ball coming out easy."
Just under 10 months after the surgery, Ramos returned on Feb. 22, 2009, against UT-Pan American.
Given a limit of 40 pitches, he needed 47 (32 strikes) to toss three scoreless, two-hit innings for the victory. He struck out three batters and walked two. Ramos regained his form by hitting his spots and setting up hitters.
The outing gave him confidence for the remainder of the season, posting a 5-5 record and 5.21 ERA in 13 games (12 starts) for Texas Tech. The Marlins would later draft him in the 21st round, setting in motion the makings of a big-league career. He is 10-5 with a 2.49 ERA in 181 appearances since 2012. He has 10 saves this season.
"I was excited, obviously," Ramos said. "I knew I was ready. I was really excited, ready to get out there and shake out the nerves. You wait that long and away from the field that long you're just itching to get back."
You can follow Christina De Nicola on Twitter @CDeNicola13 or email her at cdenicola13@gmail.com.
