Amid the upheaval in the Braves organization this season and the transaction turnstile that has been the roster, there lurks a familiar feel-good story from down under.
You know Peter Moylan, his arm angle, his Australian heritage. He’s been down on the farm this season, working his way back from a second Tommy John surgery, and by all accounts in Triple-A Gwinnett, it’s going well.
“My arm feels great,” Moylan said Wednesday before a game against the Charlotte Knights. “Back feels great. The ball is coming out great. I couldn’t even dream to feel as good as I do, especially after, I mean, when you add it all up, it’s like ‘C’mon.’”
Moylan, 36, hasn’t pitched for the Braves since 2012. By his estimation, he hasn’t pitched effectively in the big leagues since 2010. He had back surgery in May 2011. He’s had a torn rotator cuff. Then the second Tommy John in six years last spring.
“When you look at it that way, (2010) is a long time ago,” Moylan said. “There’s a lot more critics that have reared their ugly head in the last five years. I hear all the time that ‘I’m done,’ but I don’t think I’m anywhere near done.”
With the way he’s pitching now, Gwinnett manager Brian Snitker and pitching coach Marty Reed are hopeful that a September call-up is coming.
“We’re all pulling for him to get another shot,” Reed said. “He’s done everything you could ask of him here. The encouraging thing for me is the last month or so I’ve seen his velocity jump up a little bit. At the beginning of the year he was mostly 88, 89 (mph), sitting right in that area, and he’d pop a 90, 91 here and there on a good night. All of a sudden you go “wow,” you look at a 91. Now he’s sitting 90, 91 and he’s popping a 93 here and there.
“And he’s done a great job. We’d love to see him get another shot. In my own mind, I believe he will.”
The Braves signed Moylan in March to serve as a minor league player-coach during his comeback, but things have progressed so well, he dropped the “coaching” part of the title soon after spring training.
“That was probably me being an absolute pain … too,” Moylan said, imitating his daily plea to Braves coaches. “’I feel good. I feel good. I feel good. I feel good. I feel good. I feel good.’ So yeah it’s worked out well. I’m where I want to be. In Gwinnett, I’m 15 minutes from my house.
“If it happens that I get called up to Atlanta, I’m still half an hour from my house. And it’s with the team that I really wish I hadn’t have left, to be honest.”
Moylan spent 2013 with the Dodgers and last spring signed with the Astros just before he tore his ulnar collateral ligament in spring training for a second time. It was a week after his good friend Kris Medlen tore his UCL for the second time in Braves camp. Moylan had just taken Medlen out for dinner in Orlando, Fla., to give him the “this isn’t the end” pep talk, when he had to call Medlen and tell him he’d blown out, too.
Their operations with Dr. James Andrews were two weeks apart. They spent their rehabs together. Moylan and Medlen worked out last year with trainer Gina Lee of Gwinnett SportsRehab, concentrating their efforts in pool work, doing full body workouts with less stress on their joints.
Moylan lost 41 pounds in the process, down to 211, and is now up to about 220.
“It’s overused, but, I’m literally in the best shape of my life,” said the clean shaven Moylan, while finishing up a post-batting practice snack of yogurt and granola.
When he signed with the Braves in March, they encouraged him to slow his rehab process. So instead of throwing 45-pitch bullpens using all his pitches, he went back to 30 pitches, all fastballs, and slowly built back up. He’s had no setbacks — “touch wood” as he said, for luck — and he feels strong.
Pitching in Gwinnett since June has allowed Moylan to stay on a regular program, usually pitching every other night. It’s given him the freedom to figure out he needs to play catch, even on off days, or he gets out of whack mechanically.
Moylan is 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA in 26 appearances for Gwinnett, with nine walks and 23 strikeouts in 27 innings. Since giving up four runs in an outing shortly after the All-Star break, when he figured out he should have been playing catch every day, he has made nine consecutive scoreless appearances.
Medlen is five appearances into his return to the majors, pitching in relief for the Kansas City Royals. He gave up four runs in 3 1/3 innings his first time out and hasn’t been scored on in his past four outings, over seven innings. He and Moylan talk at least once a week.
“When and if the opportunity comes (for me), he’ll be as pumped as I am, I’m sure,” Moylan said.
As for Moylan?
“I’ve thought about it,” he said. “It’s one of those things where obviously it’s going to be meaningful, but it’s going to be personally more meaningful because I know what I’ve had to go through.”
