Madlock Must Wait Until Spring to Learn If His Arm Is Recovered

Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman Bill Madlock has been spending the off-season trying to recover from arm surgery, but says he won’t know until spring training if his arm has fully recovered.

Last summer, doctors removed bone fragments from his right elbow and calcium from his shoulder.

Madlock has been working out daily at Three Rivers Stadium, lifting weights, taking swings, and throwing lightly, but says the real test will come during training camp in Bradenton, Fla.

“I won’t know until I get down to spring training and try to stretch it out,” he said. Madlock says he also has a mental hurdle to overcome.

“The mental block is the whole thing,” he said. “You just don’t know what’s going to happen when you haven’t done something in a long time.”

If Madlock’s arm doesn’t come back, he won’t be able to play third, and playing first base also is out, as Jason Thompson has that position locked up, despite two straight sub-par seasons.

“If I can’t throw, I can’t play,” Madlock said. Another option if his arm fails is a trade to an American League team, where he could be a designated hitter.

Madlock, a four-time National League batting champion who hit .253 in 102 games last season, said 1984 was a rough year to be a Pirate.

“If we’d been winning or playing anywhere near decent ball it (the injury) wouldn’t have hurt so much,” he said. “But we weren’t.”

As captain, Madlock believed he had to try and play each day.

“Before I was captain, when I was hurt I didn’t go to the ball park. But I felt that as captain I had to be there,” he said.