Buddy Carlyle has revived his career from the rubble.
He’s made his return to the major leagues with the New York Mets after going to the ends of the earth – or at least the Far East of it – and back, toiling through a season in Japan, the past three years in Triple-A and proving to everyone, including himself, that he could continue pitching despite the diagnosis of Type-I diabetes he got during the 2009 season with the Braves.
And now, this past week, five years removed from his diagnosis, Carlyle pitched a perfect eighth inning against the Braves on Wednesday night in New York. It was the second time he’d faced his former team during a season in which he’s put up a 1.27 ERA through 16 appearances out of the Mets’ bullpen.
He worked through the heart of the Braves’ order Wednesday night at Citi Field, striking out Phil Gosselin and retiring Freddie Freeman and Justin Upton in order. How about that kind of triumphant return? Take that! Right?
Nah, not Buddy.
“Ah, some good, some bad,” said Carlyle, when asked about the good results he’s gotten. “Whatever.”
And from the other end of his cell phone, in a hotel lobby in New York City, he laughed. When prompted about having his best year professionally in a while, Carlyle explained further.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I just feel lucky to … I feel like I’m on borrowed time at this point in my career, so whatever happens happens. I don’t really pay attention to numbers or what’s going on. What are you going to do? You start to realize you can only work so much, and you can’t really control too much, so it makes it a lot easier.”
What’s been hard has been the time baseball has required away from his family, and the travel. Carlyle and his wife Jessica have made their home in Peachtree City, a place they got to know and love on a recommendation from former Brave Tim Hudson and his wife Kim during the three seasons Carlyle spent with the Braves from 2007-2009.
Carlyle’s wife Jessica teaches English and coaches girls’ varsity basketball now at Landmark Christian. His son Carter, 11, and daughter Kennedy, 8, are in school, which means it’s not as easy to pick up and travel. They went with him to Japan in 2010, but the springs and falls stateside now are spent in Georgia. Carlyle was excited Thursday morning that they were flying up to spend a long Labor Day weekend with him in New York.
“The thought of retiring has never crossed my mind as far as (my) performance,” said Carlyle, 36. “(It has) as far as wanting to be home. I definitely think about it every day.”
But what drives him to keep pitching the most, Carlyle said, is the diabetes.
“They’re not a whole lot of diabetics that are in the big leagues,” said Carlyle, who mentioned Oakland center fielder Sam Folds and Blue Jays pitchers Brandon Morrow and Dustin McGowan.
Carlyle made a point to mention his diabetes in his postgame interview with the New York media on May 31 after pitching three scoreless innings in his first call-up since 2011 with the Yankees and his first major league win since 2008 with the Braves.
“A lot of people find out their kids are diabetic…” Carlyle said. “It can’t stop them from doing what they want to do. Hey I’m in the big leagues pitching with this disease and it’s not inhibiting anything, so I think it helps out. That’s one of the things that drives me to keep playing.”
Carlyle, who can administer his own insulin shots, checks his blood sugar four or five times during a game. When it looks like he might be called on to pitch, he’ll raise his blood sugar with Gatorade or glucose pills.
“It’s just playing math all day with insulin and carbohydrates basically,” said Carlyle, who’s never had an issue during a game. “But you’ve got to be good at it and realize what you’re doing.”
The math stops at the blood sugar levels though, and Carlyle doesn’t spend much time on his ERA or strikeouts, wins and losses.
In fact, he said he takes his most satisfaction these days from his offseason sports job – he serves as an assistant girls basketball coach at Landmark for his wife. And he helps coach his kids’ basketball teams.
“I get way more joy and satisfaction out of that than playing baseball anymore at this point in my life,” Carlyle said. “You get to a certain point in your life, and I’ve definitely reached it a few years ago, where you kind of just get over yourself. You get way more joy out of watching someone else grow and develop than anything you can ever do.”
