Matthew Grimes is following Devin Stanton once again.
In 2012, Stanton underwent Tommy John surgery after blowing out his left elbow pitching for Georgia Tech several months before his teammate Grimes had the same surgery on his right elbow in October of that year.
Grimes benefited from Stanton walking his path of rehabilitation a few steps ahead of him, receiving encouragement and wisdom from his teammate.
“It was just kind of cool that I was able to go to him and say, ‘Hey, Devin, were you doing this at this point?’ and he could kind of give me recommendations on things he did to make him feel good,” Grimes said. “He’s a great guy.”
Two years later, Grimes follows Stanton in the Yellow Jackets’ pitching rotation, with Stanton taking the Saturday starts and Grimes pitching on Sundays, two pitchers coming back from the increasingly common elbow injury to take unlikely leading roles for Tech. They’ll be on the spot this weekend, when Tech will play a three-game home series against Florida State, which is ranked either No. 1 or 2 in the major baseball polls.
“Every time I want to think about something negative, I can always turn back to, ‘I feel 100 percent,’” Stanton said. “‘This is awesome. I’m able to go out there and pitch and feel great. What do I have to complain about?’”
Grimes, talented enough that he was still drafted in June despite missing most of 2012 and all of 2013, shares a similar sentiment.
“I appreciate my time on the field more because I know it could be over in a minute,” he said. “So I guess it kind of humbles you down pretty quickly. Every time I step on the mound, I’m thankful to be out there, and I’m just thinking to myself, I’m going to have fun today.”
Stanton, a junior, is starting for the first time in his career. He has gotten a start in Tech’s past four ACC series and has a 1-1 record with a 2.95 ERA in those starts, with 18 strikeouts against eight walks. He has pitched 21 1/3 innings in the four starts, more than he pitched in his 31 previous career appearances as a lefty relief specialist.
Coach Danny Hall calls him “one of the most upstanding guys in our program” and “an extremely hard worker.” Finally healthy — a tear in his ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow was first detected in high school at Wesleyan — he has the arm to match his competitive will and three-pitch assortment.
“He’s done a tremendous job,” Hall said. “But I’m not surprised at the job he’s done.”
Grimes started games as a freshman and sophomore in 2011 and 2012, but was brought along slowly this season, proving himself worthy of a starting spot with his work in relief. He is 4-1, including 3-1 as a starter, with a 3.21 ERA.
Grimes said he wanted to get a starting job back, but “at the end of the day, I just wanted some innings. It had been so long since I’d gotten to pitch. I just wanted to play baseball again.”
Grimes and Stanton are part of what Hall termed an “epidemic” of pitchers requiring Tommy John surgery from the high-school level to the major leagues. Indeed, Stanton filled a vacancy that was created in part when pitcher Cole Pitts suffered the same injury.
“I do think the rash of injuries that are occurring should make people try to look at everything that’s going on with baseball and in particular with pitchers now because I’ve never seen so many guys at all levels that are going down,” Hall said.
For better or worse, at least Pitts will have two teammates to guide him along.
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