Something didn’t feel right to Blake Cederlind even before he took the mound for the last time in Tampa.
He was touching 97 mph, which was right in line with his other early spring training appearances, but he knew by this point something was wrong.
“I wish I could have had an MRI four months before so I could have known if something was wrong then,” Cederlind told me over the phone. “But that was the farewell. It just took for me to not land in that position one time.”
Two days later, Cederlind was placed on the 60-day injured list with a UCL strain. He underwent Tommy John surgery shortly after, sidelining him for the 2021 season.
This was the first major injury of Cederlind’s professional career, but it got him thinking about his reliever role, too. Before the surgery, he was pumping 100-mph sinkers and a breaking pitch with enough velocity to be classified as a cutter and enough movement to be considered a slider. He looked like a closer in the making.
Why should this injury change that? How can he make sure the injury doesn’t change that?
“If you break, maybe you’re not weak,” Cederlind said. “Maybe you’re just not moving right. … Maybe we don’t know how to use ourselves the way we should.”
That thought has stuck with him this month and has inspired him to begin a self discovery about how he should feel when he’s pitching. Figure out how he moves, and how he should move.
Before Major League Baseball's lockout began Dec. 2, the Pirates and Cederlind laid out a plan for his rehab. The two sides are not allowed to be in communication during the lockout, nor is Cederlind allowed to use any team facilities.
He’s spent a lot of time in Knoxville, Tenn., this winter to be closer to his girlfriend and her family. There, he has been going in and out of baseball facilities in the area, trying to build his own team and do some extracurricular work to learn as much as he can. Try to get a better feel for what he should be feeling on the mound.
How to “feel everything,” but not in a hippie way he joked shortly after.
“I was going through what was prescribed and maybe wasn’t as aware as I could be,” Cederlind said about adding on to his rehab work.
Cederlind really started to dive into these new ideas this month, so he respectively declined to dive deep into what he’s working on because it’s an ongoing process.
“[I’m] controlling everything I can,” Cederlind said. “Doing what I can. Not trying to get caught up in the result. More, how did I get that result, rather than the result.”
When he does come back, Cederlind is hoping to get a look as a starter. He hasn’t started a game above Class A and was transitioned into a bullpen role in 2017.
If he is given the opportunity to start again, that power sinker and slider could be even more valuable. Assuming, of course, he could handle the extra workload, which goes back to his quest to improve his body movement.
“I’m a totally different guy than I was,” he said. “My old ways, I just did what I could do without knowing what I was doing. Not saying I have all the answers or I’ve figured it out, but I’ve changed something and I’m sticking to it.”
As for his rehab, Cederlind is still throwing off flat ground. His hope is the first time he will be back at Pirate City the first time he gets back on a mound. A typical rehab process takes about 14-16 months, putting Cederlind in line for a midseason return.
And when he gets back, he wants to stay on that mound.
“I feel like I can add some excitement. It’s where I belong. Hopefully when I get back, I’m there to stay for a while.”
