Cochrane’s Comeback : Ankle Injury Slows Former Troy High Star, but He Limps Back to Play Again

Last May 26 in a game against the San Antonio Dodgers, Dave Cochrane of the Jackson (Miss.) Mets rounded third base, stumbled on the bag and pulled up lame. The power-hitting infielder of the New York Mets’ Double-A affiliate in the Texas League suffered a torn ligament in his right ankle.

It was a serious injury. Cochrane was taken to the hospital, where doctors injected him with so many painkillers that he virtually slept away the next five days.

But when Cochrane woke up, everything seemed to be all right. The swelling was down, the pain had diminished and surgery was not necessary. The former Troy High School star was told that he would just have to wear a cast for about six weeks.

It didn’t turn out to be so simple.

While wearing the cast, the 6-foot 2-inch, 180-pound switch-hitter developed a blood blister on his ankle about the size of a 50-cent piece. Doctors cut away at the the blister and surrounding tissue, hoping to prevent an infection.

They weren’t successful.

Cochrane eventually developed an infection of the ankle bone that was so severe there was talk of amputating his foot.

“The doctors didn’t tell me that then, but they were thinking about it,” said Cochrane, who was traded to the White Sox organization for Tom Paciorek July 16 of last year. “They did tell me it was very bad, so I was making plans to go to college and for a life with no baseball.”

Cochrane was put on 24-hour intravenous antibiotics for more than a month, and slowly, the infection cleared up. The season was just about over, but he didn’t care. His ankle--and promising career--had been saved.

More than a year later, it’s all just an unpleasant memory for Cochrane, who is playing better than ever. He still has a slight limp, and will for at least another year, but the White Sox aren’t interested in how fast he can run.

They want to see him hit home runs.

Cochrane hit 17 homers in 93 games for the Birmingham (Ala.) Barons, Chicago’s Double-A affiliate in the Southern League, before being promoted last month to Buffalo, the club’s Triple-A affiliate in the American Assn.

In 18 games with the Bisons, he is hitting .276 with 5 home runs and 12 RBIs. Four of his homers came last week. He hit home runs (one left-handed, one right-handed) in both games of a doubleheader against Omaha last Sunday. The next night, in a single game against Iowa, Cochrane hit two homers (again one from both sides of the plate) and had five RBIs.

The White Sox have taken notice.

“Without a doubt, Dave is one of our best prospects, definitely among our top five,” said Mitch Lukevics, a White Sox administrative assistant for scouting. “He’s proved he can play and he overcame some real adversity.”

Cochrane, 23, would be lying if he said he’s not eager to reach the big leagues. But he’s trying not to be too eager.

“I’m really happy just to be healthy and playing ball again,” he said.

That Cochrane is one step away from the major leagues comes as no surprise to those who saw him during his days at Troy. His senior year (1981) was a memorable one.

Cochrane hit five homers, including ones at spacious Brookhurst and Boysen parks. When he wasn’t playing third base, then-Warrior Coach Nick Fuscardo, who is now the coach at Fullerton College, used him as a pitcher. Cochrane, whose fastball was clocked at close to 90 m.p.h., was 7-4 with a 1.30 earned-run average.

Cochrane almost single-handedly led an otherwise average Troy club to a Southern Section playoff berth, was named the Freeway League Player of the Year and earned all-Southern Section honors.

Arizona State offered Cochrane a scholarship, and the Mets selected him in the third round of the free agent draft. After spending the summer playing in the Alaskan Collegiate League, he decided to pass on the scholarship and sign with New York.

In 1982, his first year of professional ball, Cochrane hit 22 home runs and drove in 62 runs in 70 games for Little Falls (N.Y.), the Mets’ Class-A affiliate in the New York-Penn League.

The next year at Lynchburg (Va.), the Mets’ Class-A affiliate in the Carolina League, he hit 25 home runs and had 102 RBIs in 120 games.

In 1984, Cochrane was assigned to Jackson, where he hit 22 home runs in 129 games. He was off to a slow start there in 1985 before his injury, hitting only .223 in 33 games before he hurt his ankle.

If there is a knock on Cochrane, it’s his defense at third base. At Birmingham, he made 35 errors, averaging more than one every three games. But Cochrane has been working hard, taking extra ground balls whenever he can.

The extra work has apparently paid off. Cochrane has made only two errors at Buffalo.

“My confidence is coming back in the field,” he said. “Bob Bailey (a former major league third baseman who was Cochrane’s manager at Birmingham) says I’ve improved enough that I’m capable of playing third in the big leagues, and that meant a lot to me.

“But I’ll definitely keep concentrating on improving my defense.

“It’s so great to be out playing again, running and hitting, I can’t even tell you,” he said.