In the days after he was hit near the left eye by a 92 mph fastball, Ryan Vogelsong was frequently told that this injury is just another chapter in his already long and twisting story. The 38-year-old right-hander has had Tommy John surgery, played in Japan and then won two World Series rings.
“I don’t mind the chapters,” Vogelsong said Wednesday. “I just wish they weren’t so painful.”
Back in the Pirates clubhouse at PNC Park just six days after having surgery to repair three facial fractures, Vogelsong was eager to begin the slow rehab process. If adversity builds character, he said, “Well, I should have a whole lot already. But I’m going to get some more.”
In the words of Pirates head athletic trainer Todd Tomczyk, the fractures repaired by Dr. Randall Beatty at Allegheny General Hospital last week were Vogelsong’s “nasal bone, the inferior border of his orbit, and the orbital floor.” He has a splint on his nose, and plenty of swelling and bruising.
“All things considered, I feel really good,” Vogelsong said. “I feel, honestly, pretty normal.
“If you know anything about what I’ve been through, at the end of the day I’m like, it doesn’t really surprise me. Just another obstacle that I’m going to get over and add to the story, the legend.”
The strangest part of getting his face busted, Vogelsong said, is he never saw the fastball coming. He knows the batter’s box can be a dangerous place, of course, but that particular pitch, that heater from the Colorado Rockies’ Jordan Lyles May 23, he never picked up.
“I don’t know if I blinked at the wrong time,” he said, “or if it was something with the way the sky was that day — it was a little hazy — but I never saw the ball until right before it hit me in the eye.”
Vogelsong, speaking publicly for the first time since the injury, said he never lost consciousness after being hit. As he lay in the dirt, his first concern was for his vision, he recalled, since “it felt like my eye had exploded or detached” when the ball struck him. The peripheral vision still is improving, and doctors will monitor it weekly.
“I remember getting hit,” he said. “I remember laying on the field. I remember everything I said. I remember telling myself that I had to stand up, because I knew my son [Ryder] was in the play room, and my wife [Nicole] and her family were in the stands.
“I remember telling myself, ‘You’ve got to get up. You’ve got to stand up.’ Especially for my son, not being able to talk to me right away, so he’d know I was OK. But I remember all of it.”
Vogelsong, who was moved to the 60-day disabled list, plans to remain with the team while he rehabs. Doctors don’t want his heart rate up just yet, so he’s sticking to leg exercises and the stationary bike. He said his goal is to play again this season.
“I’m going to get through this, I know that,” Vogelsong said. “There’s no question about it.”
Clint Hurdle said it was good to see Vogelsong’s black-and-blue face back in the clubhouse.
“Every time we see him, it seems to be a little bit better,” the manager said.
Marte out again
Left fielder Starling Marte was out of the lineup Wednesday for the second game in a row. Hurdle said Marte tweaked his left ankle when he ran into the wall chasing a ball Sunday, and it flared up again in the first game of Tuesday’s doubleheader. Marte said he didn’t think the injury was serious.
Draft begins
The Pirates will make three picks tonight in the first two rounds of the MLB Draft. They hold the rights to picks No. 22, 41 and 68. The middle selection is a competitive-balance pick, typically awarded to teams in small markets or with small revenue pools.
Stephen J. Nesbitt: snesbitt@post-gazette.com and Twitter @stephenjnesbitt.
First Published: June 9, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
