Saturday featured more than just the Braves’ first Grapefruit League contest: It also included the awaited arrival of starter Cole Hamels.
Hamels, 36, was stalled by left-shoulder inflammation that will force him to miss at least the beginning of the regular season. The left-hander overworked himself in January exercises.
“It was a culmination of some really intense workouts for over a week and a half,” Hamels said. “Then it hit a point I knew I couldn’t get passed it. Soreness is good, but you have to know what type of soreness is good and which is bad. It was getting away from that comforting feel where you know you’re pushing it, you’re getting better, getting stronger. It was more so towards that injury area. It wasn’t feeling as good as I thought. I wasn’t confident that it was something I could overcome without asking the right questions.”
Hamels was in Dallas working with Dr. Keith Meister of TMI Sports Medicine and Orthopedics. Hamels grew comfortable with Meister, the Rangers’ team physical, during his time with the Rangers from 2016-18. So he stayed back while the Braves opened camp in North Port, Florida, 10 days ago.
“Dr. Meister is one of the best in the business,” Hamels said. “We developed a really good relationship with him when I was in Texas. I’ve remained in contract with him and trained down there in the offseason at times. You want to be able to go to someone who’s seen you at your best, knows you pretty well, so he can give you the best advice and information that you need to get back to where you want to be.”
The Braves said at camp’s inception that Hamels will be re-evaluated in three weeks. But even if he begins ramping up activities at the earliest possible date, he would miss the start of the season.
The four-time All-Star, who signed a one-year, $18 million deal this winter, doesn’t have a timetable for his return. He and the medical staff are playing it safe, trying to make sure the inflammation doesn’t linger or reappear later in the season.
Hamels took a lesson from last season, when he admittedly rushed back from an oblique injury. Ha also experienced shoulder fatigue in September that forced the Cubs to skip his turn in the rotation. Hamels did return to make one more start, striking out eight in four frames. His latest discomfort is unrelated to that past fatigue.
“The first couple weeks have not been fun,” Hamels said of the rehab process. “You try to revert back to something. I can start to do a little more of the lower-body exercises, but even that you can’t do every day. Just build up your cardio, slowly get back to shoulder strengthening again. That’s what it is. You want to have a strong foundation, and that’s where I am building up right now, getting back my shoulder strength, developing that foundation before I actually start to do the throwing program, long toss and get right back into the mix.”
Hamels is taking the glass-half-full approach, knowing that a lesser workload early should have him feeling fresher in the season’s later months, when the Braves hope to be competing for a pennant. He’s seen such heights – Hamels was National League Championship Series and World Series MVP in 2008 for the Phillies – and that’s why he’s OK with slow-playing his return.
“You want to make sure you’re 100 percent, firing on all cylinders,” he said. “When you’re able to save innings, in time, you should feel a lot stronger (later in the season) because when you get around the postseason, and you’re a guy who’s around 200 innings, you feel it.
“The pressure mounts, and there’s a little bit more going on. So if you look at it that way – and that’s the way I’m going to have to turn it – I’ve got to make sure that I’m going to be the guy I’m capable of being, that I have the stuff, the physical strength for those types of moments.”
Hamels was signed to add reliability to a rotation that lost Julio Teheran and Dallas Keuchel. While each had their warts, they were consistently covering innings, a category Hamels has excelled in throughout his career.
Now, the Braves won’t see Hamels debut until late April or May - at the earliest. They’re confident their depth will adequately bridge the gap to Hamels’ return.
In the meantime, Hamels will get acclimated with his colleagues. He recognizes the value in being present and mentoring the Braves’ younger players, an assignment he relishes.
Beyond that, Hamels is embracing his role as the rotation’s wise man. He wants to begin developing relationships with Mike Soroka, Max Fried and other young pitchers while offering them guidance as they try to achieve the peaks Hamels has reached in his 14 seasons.
“My reason for being here is not only to produce on the field, but to be in the clubhouse and be a guy (younger players) can look to and be around, get advice,” he said. “The sort of things that keep a team a cohesive group. You have to be here to be able to do so.”
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