PITTSBURGH – For the first two weeks after undergoing back surgery, Joe Jiménez was, for the most part, bedridden. He couldn’t leave the house.
“It felt like a COVID kind of thing, not being able to go outside and stuff,” he said.
He watched Netflix – whatever his wife was watching at the time. He couldn’t do much of anything.
“It was hard, because obviously, my wife helped me a lot through that process,” he said. “It was hard for her, because obviously she had to do everything in the house while I was just laying on the couch or something. As soon as I started doing more stuff, I was really excited.”
Eventually, he began walking. He would do more and more each day. But these were baby steps.
One after another. Slowly but surely.
But he couldn’t do anything from his regular baseball offseason routine.
“For almost two months,” Jiménez said, “it was really hard.”
This lack of regularity might have affected his early-season performance. Through his first 18 outings, he had a 4.86 ERA over 16 2/3 innings. For the first bit of the season, his velocity had not yet caught up to his track record.
Well, it is early August, and Jiménez owned a 2.70 ERA over 40 innings as the Braves entered a four-game series in Pittsburgh. He’d struck out 49 batters in that span.
“I mean, I think I’m feeling comfortable again, doing everything that I can do with no hesitation or thinking about it,” Jiménez said. “It just feels completely normal now, and I think that’s helping my pitching.””
During Jiménez’s slow start, he received criticism from fans and media. So, too, did Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos, who decided to trade for a right-handed reliever who had just undergone back surgery.
But it’s important to note this: The Braves knew this would take time.
The trainers told them as much.
“Now, we’re seeing what we thought we were getting when we got him,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “And good for him. He did a great job of kind of hanging there with himself and continuing to work and doing what he could to get back. It’s great when the player allows himself to come back like he did.”
Heading into the Pirates series, Jiménez had allowed two earned runs over 13 1/3 innings.
Jiménez is averaging 95 mph with his four-seam fastball, which is more like his career averages than it was earlier in the season.
This, like everything, comes down to feeling physically well. Jiménez said he’s gotten great extension, and according to Baseball Savant, he’s in the 93rd percentile in the sport in this area. Thus, his velocity has been better and hitters probably haven’t seen him as well.
“I think I told one of the pitchers the other day that I feel like I’m on cruise control,” he said. “Just let it go and hope for the best. I feel really comfortable and really good, and hopefully I’ll keep doing the job.”
His recent performance is probably similar to how he was toward the end of his Tigers tenure, right?
“I think even better, because obviously I feel like the ball is jumping a lot more out of my hand and my pitches are better now than before,” Jiménez said.
Jiménez said his back never hurt after surgery. “I didn’t feel anything in my back during that process,” he said. But it took time to get back to being himself. He expected this.
Now, he feels normal.
“Maybe I didn’t think about it at the start of the season, but it was there,” he said. “You can’t delete it. I think as the season has gone on, I’ve just started feeling better and better.”
Sam Hilliard re-injures heel
While on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Gwinnett, Sam Hilliard, who was recovering from a right heel contusion, re-injured his right feel. He felt soreness.
The Braves returned Hilliard from his rehab assignment, but didn’t activate him.
So, Hilliard is on the injured list, but is no longer on a rehab assignment. Position players can only be on a rehab assignment for a maximum of 20 days.
Dylan Lee to continue rehab assignment
Lefty reliever Dylan Lee will make his second rehab appearance on Tuesday. He’ll pitch in Charlotte for Triple-A Gwinnett.
Lee threw a clean inning for Gwinnett on Saturday.
