When Darren O’Day stepped into the clubhouse for the Gulf Coast Braves, beginning a rehab assignment that he wondered would ever arrive, he was mistaken for a coach.
Mahki Backstrom, a 17-year-old first baseman the Braves drafted in June, wondered if O’Day was a player or coach. O’Day laughed it off and pointed out he was pitching in the majors when Backstrom wasn’t even 10.
“You meet some characters along the way,” O’Day said. “So he and I became friends. We talked (trash) to each other the whole time I was there. We had fun.”
Just another subplot in O’Day’s comeback, which came to fruition Thursday after over a year of persistence and self-reflection.
The Braves announced that O’Day was being activated from the 60-day injured list before the series opener against the Nationals. The 36-year-old right-hander, once one of the best relievers in the game, last pitched June 26, 2018 for Baltimore.
“It’s the second-most excited I’ve been walking into a clubhouse (other than my debut),” O’Day said. “Just a lot of time to reflect on my career, where this team is at. I’m so excited to be part of it. I can’t wait to pitch. It’s been way too long.”
The Braves acquired him in a trade July 31, 2018, along with Kevin Gausman, for four minor leaguers: catcher Brett Cumberland, pitchers Evan Phillips and Bruce Zimmermann and infielder Jean Carlos Encarnacion.
O’Day was out the rest of the 2018 season because of a left hamstring strain, but the Orioles used that deal as an opportunity to dump his remaining salary, which included $9 million for 2019. He’s missed much of this season with a right forearm strain.
“Pitching has been such a big part of my life,” he said. “It’s the competition you get used to. When that’s taken away from you, you have all this wasted energy and concentration. So I am just so excited to pitch again and feel like I’m part of the team. A good team, obviously. So I’m ready to contribute and do what I can.”
The Florida product acknowledges there were many times he considered hanging it up. He’s had a successful career. He’s made his money. It wouldn’t have been a storybook ending, but it’s not as though O’Day hadn’t made the most of his talent.
But his support system, chiefly his wife, Elizabeth, and his parents, kept him going. Despite multiple setbacks, despite pitching just once in a Braves uniform - March 1, a scoreless spring training inning - O’Day built himself back up and finally embarked on a rehab assignment.
He was nervous before his first game in the GCL, where he’d eventually pitch a scoreless inning Aug. 23. He knew if anything acted up again, that was probably curtains.
O’Day turned out healthy: He required only four appearances in his rehab assignment, striking out six over four scoreless innings.
And on Thursday, he returned to a big-league clubhouse. If his forearm trouble is behind him, he believes he could pitch “a few more years.”
“There were a lot of times (I thought about retiring),” he said. “Everybody, my wife being No. 1, I have a great support system. My dad, mom, family. And these guys in (this clubhouse). I’m very grateful to the organization to let me stay around and be part of the team in some abstract way. It keeps you going, keeps you motivated.”
The experience in the minors was an eye-opening one for O’Day. He’s intrigued by potentially coaching after his playing career - he loves working with younger players and feels he has a wealth of knowledge worth sharing - but he also loves his children, who are four and 1-1/2 years young.
Prized outfield prospect Drew Waters admired O’Day and asked him to hang out in the offseason. O’Day welcomes being the veteran, a sage to which youngsters can ask their endless questions. High-A Florida even had O’Day speak to the team on what he’d tell prospects in their positions.
“Being around younger kids, GCL, High-A, Triple-A, it made me reflect on how much the game has changed and how much my life has changed, how baseball has changed,” O’Day said. “There’s different phases of life and how far these kids have to go, what they do and don’t know. It was really cool to be around them and go through that. It was pretty neat.”
Now O’Day is another experienced arm plugged into the Braves’ enriched clubhouse. However he fares, his journey was a road less traveled that impacted many in its path.
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