Mike Witt Appears Ready for Comeback

The only mention of Mike Witt in the New York Yankees’ camp a year ago was the daily medical update Manager Buck Showalter provided. Witt was in the minor league complex in Tampa, Fla., rehabilitating from elbow surgery and was completely out of the club’s plans for 1992.

“I was confident I’d be able to pitch sometime last season,” Witt said. “The All-Star break was my goal. The setback was a great disappointment. It just makes me more determined to get back this season.”

Witt, 32, has no doubts about that. He has been throwing every other day since December with one thought in mind--to resume a major league career that came to a perilous interruption June 14, 1991.

“I hope we’ve reached the point where we don’t have to give Mike Witt updates,” Showalter said. “I think we have. I talked to Mike over the phone quite a bit in the off-season, and it was scary how gung ho he was. But I’m a believer watching him the past week.”

Tuesday was the reporting day for the remainder of the team, but Witt and the other pitchers and catchers have been working out more than a week. He threw again Tuesday and drew more praise from Showalter.

“Mike knows the real test will come during exhibition games,” Showalter said. “That’s why we play them. . . . But for now, the important thing is that he’s healthy again. He’s always been on the lean side, but he added some muscle to his upper body, and that should help his stamina.”

The 6-7, 210-pound right-hander hasn’t spent much time in uniform since he came to the Yankees May 1, 1990, in a trade with the California Angels for Dave Winfield. Witt was 5-6 with a 4.47 ERA in 16 starts for the Yankees that year. In the following off-season, he signed a three-year contract for $8 million, but his elbow problems limited Witt’s 1991 output to two starts totaling 5 1/3 innings.

Witt had surgery July 25 that year. The procedure by Lewis Yocum, the Angels’ team physician, required the transplanting of a tendon from his left ankle to reconstruct the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. Last spring in Florida, Witt spoke with Tommy John, who had the first successful surgery of that type in 1974.

“Tommy was successful from day one,” Witt said. “Talking to him was uplifting. But I admit I might have rushed it.”

Witt, an even .500 (114-114) in his major league career, pitched 12 innings for the Yankees’ rookie team in Tampa last season before he was shut down for the rest of the year because of inflammation that turned into tendinitis.

“The doctors think I stretched some scar tissue,” Witt said. “All I know is there was tremendous pain, and I thought, ‘Where do I go from here?’ For all the encouragement I derived from talking to Tommy John, I also knew of other cases that didn’t turn out so well with guys like Don Aase, Danny Cox and Scott Garrelts. That was sobering. I saw Garrelts in November, and he told me he had to have more surgery. ‘Great,’ I thought. I didn’t want to be like that.”

Another operation was not required for Witt. Rest proved beneficial. The only soreness he reports is in his legs from all the running he has done. “A good soreness,” he calls it.

Witt looks around the clubhouse and sees few faces he recognizes from the ’91 season. Much has changed with the Yankees since he last pitched for them.

“We’re a better club, that’s for sure,” Witt said. “It’s definitely a better pitching staff. It kind of reminds me of California when I was there with Mark Langston, Bert Blyleven, Chuck Finley and Kirk McCaskill. Plus Jim Abbott, and now we’re teammates again.”

Abbott, Melido Perez and Jimmy Key man the first three spots in the rotation. Witt, whose career ERA is 3.81, is competing against Scott Kamieniecki, Bob Wickman and Sam Militello for one of the other two spots.

“The last 18 months were frustrating,” Witt said. “I stayed in contact with Buck about the team, but I tried to stay away from watching games. I didn’t stay too far away that I didn’t pay attention to new hitters coming into the league, but I really missed not playing. I realize this is a precious thing, to be able to pitch and compete in the big leagues. I didn’t forget how to pitch. If I’m healthy, which is how I feel now, I’ll get people out.”