{"id":10372,"date":"2023-05-20T20:57:37","date_gmt":"2023-05-20T20:57:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?p=10372"},"modified":"2023-05-20T21:16:30","modified_gmt":"2023-05-20T21:16:30","slug":"tyler-zombro-recovered-from-head-injury-but-released-by-the-bulls-gets-another-chance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2023\/05\/20\/tyler-zombro-recovered-from-head-injury-but-released-by-the-bulls-gets-another-chance\/","title":{"rendered":"Tyler Zombro, recovered from head injury but released by the Bulls, gets another chance"},"content":{"rendered":"
Two months after being released by the Durham Bulls, Tyler Zombro is getting another chance to play baseball.<\/span><\/p>\n The 28-year-old pitcher has only played two games since getting hit in the head by a 104-mph line drive in 2021, ending his season and sending him into months of recovery. This weekend, he accepted a minor-league contract with the Texas Rangers organization and is expected to play for the AAA Round Rock Express. The news was first reported by ESPN.<\/span><\/p>\n He was joyful when I texted him Saturday afternoon, replying that he was \u201calready at the park!”<\/span><\/p>\n The news came after an up-and-down couple of months. Before spring training, Zombro got a heads up from the Tampa Bay Rays organization, which owns the Bulls: <\/span>Hey, we don\u2019t think you\u2019re gonna make the AAA roster coming out of spring training.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n That was discouraging, because he felt he was pitching better than he had been in a while. His velocity was up, and he believed he was ready. But the Rays had already made up their mind. \u201cYou could see the writing on the walls\u2026 they wanted to move on from me as a player.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Zombro was released on March 26.<\/span><\/p>\n Last week, during an interview in Charlotte before the Texas contract was signed, he revealed new details about his rehabilitation and his disappointment with getting released.<\/span><\/p>\n After his head injury in June 2021, Zombro went through months of rehabilitation before being cleared to play again in the 2022 season spring training. He wore a Kevlar implant in his hat to protect his head, and loved ones held their breath as he returned to the sport that almost took his life.<\/span><\/p>\n Understandably, he wasn\u2019t back to where he\u2019d been pre-injury \u2013 his pitches were down a couple of miles per hour. Instead of sending him back to Durham to play for the Bulls at the start of the season, the Rays kept him in Florida for an extra month and a half of training. This was miserable for Zombro, who was eager to get back to Durham and replace the last image everyone had of him face-down and seizing on the mound.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI pushed so hard (to get back to playing), and then to be told that you\u2019re just gonna hang out in Florida for a month and a half, you know, you\u2019re not super thrilled about it,\u201d he recalled.<\/span><\/p>\n But once he resumed pitching, Zombro realized quickly that something was wrong with his arm. His pitches were slowing down significantly, and he was in pain. But, afraid of being held back even further, he kept pitching without saying much.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI wasn\u2019t going to push back, you know, that far from the head injury and then say, \u2018Well, my arm\u2019s bugging me\u2019 and then run the risk of never pitching again,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n Once back in Durham, he made it through two season games with the Bulls before confessing his symptoms to the medical team. He knew it was time. \u201cMy feel for the ball (was) gone.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The diagnosis was clear. He said he had thoracic outlet syndrome, a case of restricted blood flow and nerve sensation through his arm. The injury stemmed directly from his head injury the previous year, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n He got surgery in June, ending his 2022 season. His recovery took about five months, giving Zombro his second consecutive season of physical therapy and rehabilitation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m like a VIP member at Duke Health now,\u201d he laughed.<\/span><\/p>\n Pitchers never stop thinking about baseball. After PT, Zombro worked as a pitching coach and even stuck around for Bulls games, giving advice to players in the dugout.<\/span><\/p>\n After being cleared to play once again, Zombro arrived at this year\u2019s spring training with big hopes. He wanted to surpass his playing ability pre-injury.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI certainly could have mailed it in after the head injury and been fine. Like, I don\u2019t need baseball to be happy,\u201d he said. But he had fought too hard to get back.<\/span><\/p>\n With another year passed since his head injury, people were finally asking fewer questions and flinching every time he pitched.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI felt great about it, like finally breaking away from everybody just freaking out,\u201d he recalled.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Despite the consistent warnings that he likely wouldn\u2019t make the roster, Zombro still believed he might make it to Durham for the start of the season. \u201cI hadn\u2019t felt like myself pitching in a while,\u201d he said, and for the first time since 2021, he seemed to be back to normal.<\/span><\/p>\n For the Rays, though, it was too late. They no longer had a place for him.<\/span><\/p>\n Zombro, who had been signed to the Rays as an undrafted free agent in 2017, felt that he\u2019d always been overlooked.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI never was a real priority,\u201d he said. While his game smarts had always been valued, he believed his playing had been \u201cwritten off pretty quickly.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n When the time came to sign his release papers, Zombro didn\u2019t resist. \u201cI\u2019ve got nothing to lose,\u201d he stated. \u201cI\u2019m essentially not being valued, it can\u2019t go much lower than this.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Last week, before he signed with the Rangers\u2019 organization, he was still in limbo. He said his old teammates checked in on him daily. At least once a week, almost every member from the 2021 Durham team \u2013 the season Zombro got hit \u2013would text him something like, \u201cWhat\u2019s up man? Any updates? What\u2019s going on?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Now, he has good news to tell them.<\/span><\/p>\n Zombro forgets about his head injury most days. For the first year after it happened, he felt that \u201cnobody looked at me again as the same player.\u201d Now, two years out, he\u2019s starting to feel like they might.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not about the head injury anymore,” he said, “it\u2019s about me moving on.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Photo at top: Tyler Zombro in Charlotte last week. Photo by Sofie Buckminster – The 9th Street Journal<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Two months after being released by the Durham Bulls, Tyler Zombro is getting another chance to play baseball. The 28-year-old pitcher has only played two…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":10385,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[103],"class_list":["post-10372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life-in-durham","tag-durham-bulls","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n