Johan Santana to take major step Friday
Mets starter Johan Santana throws a warmup pitch during a spring training game against the Minnesota Twins in Port St. Lucie, Fla. (Mar. 19, 2010) Credit: AP
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- At this point, 17 months removed from shoulder surgery, all Johan Santana wants is to be like any other pitcher. Take the mound every fifth day. Recover. Repeat.
Whether or not Santana can stay on such a schedule is the major question facing the two-time Cy Young winner, and he'll attempt another significant step toward that goal with Friday morning's bullpen session at Digital Domain Park.
Based on his progress during the last couple of months, neither Santana nor the Mets has any reason to suspect that won't be possible. But after numerous delays during a thorny rehab process, it is difficult to predict a timetable for Santana's return to the majors.
"I'm very excited about this," Santana said Thursday after playing catch and fielding ground balls. "I finally have an opportunity to start spring training from the beginning and do all the drills and be part of the team. I went through a rest time and now I'm building up everything again and feeling good. That's the most important thing."
The plan is to have Santana on the mound April 5 for Opening Day against the Braves at Citi Field. Pitching coach Dan Warthen said as much Thursday in explaining that the regular-season schedule would allow Santana to make his first three starts with an extra day of rest each time, an indication that it's already been mapped out for him.
Before then, however, the Mets are hoping to work him on a five-day rotation in spring training, just like everyone else. That, of course, would depend on how his shoulder holds up from his heaviest workload since September 2010.
"We will treat it conservative," Warthen said, " but it's going to go by him. I would like him to do every fifth day in spring training, especially the first couple times early, when you're only throwing 25 and 30 pitches.
"We'll see how he is, see how it reacts. If it's reacting well, then we'll keep on the five days. If he feels he needs an extra day, if he comes in and tells Terry [Collins], we'll give him an extra day. We may give him two extra days. Whatever the case may be."
Friday's bullpen session is a mile marker for what continues to be a long road back, and Santana knows he's still a long way from the finish. Getting on the mound again is relatively nothing compared with how his body responds.
"That's what I'm here for -- to recover from one start to another," Santana said. "That's what we're going to figure out, and see how we're going to work and take care of it.''
At least Santana is healthy and his arm strength has returned. Warthen recalled playing catch with Santana from 100 feet toward the end of last season and how his throws would "die" before reaching him. But the action on his throws was much different this week.
"It took off or stayed on that same plane, so you could tell that he was finishing the baseball," Warthen said. "He was getting full extension through it. That late finish that he's so well noted for was starting to show up again."
As for Friday's session, Warthen didn't try to downplay its importance.
"Any time he puts a ball in his hand and he starts throwing, it's a big day," he said. " I don't know how excited he is, but I certainly am."
