By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
His abbreviated workday is 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., but A.L. Brown graduate Garrett Sherrill would give anything to be putting in eight hours at the ballpark.
The ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in Sherrill’s right elbow ó the joint that launched hundreds of wicked sliders, made him a devastating right-handed pitcher and helped him become a 12th-round draft pick by the Milwaukee Brewers a year ago ó has put him on the shelf.
Tommy John surgery is a phrase the 6-foot-5 Sherrill hears often these days, but he and the Brewers are still looking at that option as a last resort.
The affable 21-year-old spends the bulk of his time near Glendale, Ariz., relaxing in a luxury apartment complex that once was home to Manny Ramirez.
The Brewers are putting up Sherrill and a half-dozen fellow rehabbers as they try to get back on track. Sherrill wants to believe he’s on the mend, but only time will tell.
“I guess I’m in a good situation to be in such a not-so-good situation,” Sherrill said. “This place is really nice, 10 minutes from downtown Phoenix, but I wish things were different.”
A lot of people care about Sherrill’s elbow because he was one of the more popular athletes to come out of Kannapolis in recent decades.
He was a 1,000-point scorer for the basketball team, a kicker for the football team and a standout who dominated with his arm, bat and glove on the baseball diamond.
The NPC was really something during Sherrill’s time, just as it is now. West Rowan was the 3A state runner-up in 2004 and Northwest Cabarrus was the state runner-up in 2005. All you need to know about Sherrill is that A.L. Brown won the NPC tournament both of those years.
Kannapolis interrupted Rowan County’s domination to win three Area III American Legion championships during Sherrill’s years. He was surrounded by super players, but his 26 wins on the mound and .400 batting average made him as responsible as anyone for that run.
Sherrill turned down ACC schools and South Carolina to go to Appalachian State. He was a standout from the start. The Mountaineers used him often, both starting and relieving, and he finished his three-year career with 14 saves to rank No. 2 on ASU’s all-time list.
The Brewers admired his bulldog efforts in Boone ó ASU coach Chris Pollard said Sherrill was as good a competitor as he’s ever had ó as well as his summer success in the elite Cape Cod League. He was the 368th player picked last June.
Some nights things went exactly as they were supposed to for Sherrill out west in the Pioneer League. On July 31, he relieved in the ninth for the Helena Brewers at Great Falls and threw one pitch for a game-ending double play and save.
His ERA of 4.71 last summer showed he had learning to do, but his 46 strikeouts in 361/3 innings showed he had the stuff to succeed.
He was assigned to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers of the Class A Midwest League to start this season, but things didn’t go well.
“My velocity was down a little ó I was 86-87 instead of 88-89 ó but my stuff was pretty good and my ball had a lot of run on it,” Sherrill said. “The negative was I was struggling with control and walking too many people. There were times warming up that I didn’t feel quite right, but once I got out there on the mound adrenaline took over and I didn’t feel anything.”
His last outing on May 6 was one of his best as a pro. It came in a 6-2 loss to Burlington, but he was sharp in a mop-up role for three innings. No runs. One hit. Three strikeouts. His ERA, which had looked like his shoe size, dropped to 6.10.
“I felt a tweak a couple of times in that game,” Sherrill said. “There wasn’t any one moment where I felt a sharp pain or anything, but I knew something was wrong.
“I’ve pitched in pain before and I could’ve kept throwing this time, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to have the year I wanted to have and put up the numbers I wanted to put up.”
Sherrill informed coaches and trainers he was feeling discomfort. An MRI revealed bad news. Sherrill’s UCL was partially torn, probably worn down from the repetitive stress of cutting loose all those sliders.
Had the ligament been torn completely, he would have had limited options: either Tommy John surgery to replace the UCL or retirement at age 21.
Instead, Sherrill finds himself in a gray area, following a program with about a 50-50 success rate and living in a plush apartment in steamy Arizona.
Milwaukee trainers are optimistic Sherrill will recover with rest and careful rehab. Scar tissue eventually should heal the damaged ligament.
“They’ve shut me down, but they don’t think the tear is far enough for Tommy John,” Sherrill explained.
Sherrill’s sophisticated rehab started with ultrasound and massage treatments. It’s gotten more physical lately, with plyometrics and weights. He feels his right shoulder getting stronger. That’s important because a more powerful shoulder will theoretically take strain off his elbow when he pitches. Nothing hurts in any of his workouts ó unless he moves his elbow a certain way.
The current timetable is for Sherrill to pick up a baseball again in late July. He’ll start a conservative throwing program then. In a perfect world, he’ll be back on a mound for a ballgame in front of a crowd before this season ends.
Until the moments of truth arrive in late July, he’ll marvel at the Arizona weather. It’s 105 degrees at 10 a.m. and 108 in the afternoon. He’d like to work up a sweat running poles at the ballpark, but it’s the sort of dry heat that doesn’t lend itself to perspiration.
Sherrill has plenty of time to think ó about friends Kyle Seager and Daniel Wagner being drafted earlier this month and about former teammates Brett Bartles and Zach Ward being released by big-league organizations this year.
His own dream is temporarily on hold, but it’s still alive.
“If the rehab and the throwing program don’t work out, it’s probably going to mean Tommy John,” Sherrill said. “If that happens, I’ll deal with it.”