Blue Jays left-hander Ryan Borucki put together his most impressive outing in a Dunedin uniform on Tuesday night against the Tampa Yankees. He began the game by striking out the lead-off hitter. Then he struck out the second batter. Then the third. Batters were missing his slider by a foot in the first inning.
In the second inning, it was more of the same. He struck out the fourth hitter of the game. Then the fifth. Then the sixth. Hitters were left lunging at his changeup as it fell away from them.
It wasn't until the third inning that the Yankees put a ball in-play against Borucki, a weak ground ball to second base by the second batter of the inning and eighth of the ballgame (Borucki recorded the first out of the inning on, you guessed it, a strikeout). Borucki's excellence continued until manager John Schneider emerged from the dugout and removed him from his still-perfect game in the fourth inning when Borucki reached his pitch count for the game.
"Never in my life," Borucki said when asked if he had ever started a game so successfully. "It was one of those days where everything from pitch one was working. I got into a zone that was hard to come out of. It was attack, attack, attack, attack. It was a fun one."
Leaving during a perfect game wasn't easy for Borucki, but he stressed confidence in his coaches and trainers and their plan to maintain his health.
"When you're locked-in in the zone like that, you don't want to come out. But you've got to trust the process. I knew going into it that I was on a pitch count and I had to do what I could."
With Borucki, the pitch count serves as a quiet reminder of the injuries he has had in the past. He was drafted by the Blue Jays in the 2012 draft despite having a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow, the part of the arm synonymous with Tommy John surgery.
"I partially tore my UCL my senior year of high school. I had a no hitter going in the fifth inning and felt a little pop in my elbow on a slider. I didn't think anything of it because I wanted the no-hitter. I finished the game, got the no-hitter, and felt real sore. The next game, in my first at-bat I hit a home run and I couldn't feel my elbow. My whole arm numbed on second base."
Borucki had his arm examined following the game and found he had a partial tear in his elbow. Doctors told him he could continue to pitch on it if he could stand the pain. He finished his senior year of high school and was drafted by Toronto in the fifteenth round, the Blue Jays betting on his talent even with the concerns about his health.
After the draft, Borucki pitched in the Gulf Coast League for the Blue Jays and then in Extended Spring Training. While pitching a live batting practice session in extended spring, the pain in his elbow increased substantially. He found out soon after that he had fully torn his UCL and would need Tommy John surgery.
"I came back really fast. I was at full-go, my velocity was fully back, in ten months after the surgery. From the beginning of the throwing program, I was really letting it loose. I thought, if it's going to go, I might as well test it now and have it go now rather than babying it for fix or six more months then having it go again. I haven't had any problems with it. It's been feeling really good. It's felt strong the last couple of years."
Borucki returned to the field in 2015 and threw just 5.2 innings before he felt pain in his shoulder.
"That was tough. I remember I got sent up to Vancouver. I pumped myself up. The team was in a losing streak, and I'm a pretty competitive guy. When I'm out there, I want to win. I overexerted myself and aggravated my shoulder."
Borucki would miss the rest of the season, but it wasn't a season lost. Despite how frustrating missing more time was, Borucki feels he learned from the experience.
"It was a wake up call to myself saying 'Hey, my elbow is one thing. My shoulder is a different thing. I need to take care of my shoulder too.'"
He's worked relentlessly since to keep both his elbow and shoulder strong, using his injuries as motivation to work extra hard to stay healthy in the future.
"It's made me more conscious and made me work harder on my rehab, my arm exercises, my stretching. It's definitely made me grow as a person and as a player and take care of the little things I never thought of doing before. I do a trick to myself. I tell myself that if I skip a rep, if I cut corners, if I don't work hard, that I'm going to get hurt again. When I'm doing three sets in the weight room and I think to myself 'Should I do the third set?', I'm like 'Yeah, you better do it or you might get hurt again.' I play a little mind game with myself."
Borucki returned to the field in 2016 determined to prove his health. The organization decided to challenge him by putting him on the Dunedin roster to begin the season even though he hadn't pitched at the full-season level left.
"I got crushed. I use a lot of deception. My motion is real deceptive and doesn't let the hitter see the ball well. But last year when I came to Dunedin, I was showing the ball really early so hitters could time me up easily."
After six starts in Dunedin, Borucki had a 14.40 ERA and little confidence on the mound. He was sent down to Single-A Lansing and began working diligently with Blue Jays pitching coordinator Jeff Ware to refine his mechanics to regain his deception on the mound.
The Blue Jays had altered Borucki's mechanics during his rehabilitation from his shoulder injury to avoid stress on his arm and prevent future injuries. Working with Ware, Borucki developed a new motion that combined both the health-conscious mechanics recommended by his trainers and the pitching motion he had felt comfortable with prior to his injuries. The new mechanics worked.
"I had two really good outings in a row and my confidence came up. It was a snowball effect. It kept going better and better and better. When you have confidence as a pitcher, that's all you need. Once it starts going, you could have your worst stuff but pitch a great game because you're confident that you're going to throw scoreless innings."
It wasn't just Borucki that finished the 2016 season confident in his performance. After finishing second in the Midwest League in wins (10) and earned run average (2.41), Borucki received an unexpected phone call from Blue Jays Director of Player Development Gil Kim telling him that the Blue Jays had placed him on their 40-man roster.
"It was unbelievable. When I got the call, I remember he told me and I just put my head down. To be honest, I blocked out what he said after he said 'Hey, we put you on the 40-man'. I don't remember what all he said. But he did say, 'We have confidence in you'. I got off the phone and I got to tell my mom and dad. It was an unbelievable feeling, probably the best I've ever had in a day in my life during baseball. It shows the confidence they have in me that I can succeed in this game for the Toronto Blue Jays."
Borucki reported to Major League camp this spring, determined to take in as much of the experience as he could. He threw 4.0 innings for the Jays, allowing just one run in Spring Training before reporting to Dunedin to start the season.
Following his stellar start against the Yankees this week, Borucki is pleased to put the adversity of previous years behind him and look forward to the season ahead.
"I want to build off my last outing. I've been feeling good, and I want to give the team here the best chance to win and get into the playoffs. Whatever opportunities present themselves this year, I'm going to try to take full advantage of them."