Rehabbing Doolittle vows to pitch again for A's this season
Recent updates on Oakland Athletics reliever Sean Doolittle had him making progress from a left shoulder strain, but not progress that could specifically put him on track for a return to duty soon.
However, the 2014 All-Star left-hander is extremely confident that he'll get back on the mound again this season. With the next step in his rehab work throwing a few flat-ground sessions next week, he told Joe Stiglich of CSN Bay Area on Wednesday that he has every intention of making sure he gets back in a game in 2015.
Said Doolittle: “I’ve been working so hard to get back. I have my mind set on pitching this year. Obviously we’re going to be smart with it. But it looks like there’s a really good chance I’ll be pitching this year.”
So far in 2015 he's only pitched one inning in one game, and it was marked by an obvious drop in velocity on his fastball.
After that game he went back on the DL, and told Stiglich there may have been some mental blocks in play that afternoon back in May: "Subconsciously I may have been guarding against it. I hurt it so bad throwing in the offseason, I didn’t want to feel that way again. That resulted in some really bad habits, putting pressure on some muscles (that shouldn’t have felt pressure). To me, it looked like I was pitching with the ‘E’ break on. I never had any red flags or pain the first time around. The last hurdle I had was pitching in a big league game, and I wasn’t ready.”
Despite that hiccup in plans earlier this season, it sounds as if Doolittle is pleased with his progress and eager to reclaim his spot at the back end of the A's bullpen.
