With Hanley Ramirez out for eight weeks, the Los Angeles Dodgers are rearranging to prepare for the home opener against the Giants on April 1.
Injuries, for multiple reasons, affect a team’s cohesiveness, and with Bona Baseball Boogaloo based on St. Bonaventure University’s campus, it was pertinent to take a look inside the Bonnies Baseball Team and how injuries have affected them, both currently and in the past.
Robert Nalepa, redshirt junior pitcher
(gobonnies.com photo)
Much like the situation with Ramirez, Bona baseball players have had to deal with injuries that took them from the game. Robert Nalepa, a redshirt junior, pitches for the Bonnies and last season had to sit out due to a right shoulder injury that forced him to have surgery.
“It was the first time in my career that I had any type of serious injury, so it was a struggle at first knowing that I wouldn’t be able to play ball,” Nalepa stated.
The worst part for Nalepa was the fact that last year a lot of the pitchers were injured, so the Bona bullpen was slacking; the team needed him and there was nothing he could do because he was injured.
According to Larry Sudbrook, head coach for the Bonaventure baseball team, the first instinct of a coaching staff when a starter gets hurt is to say “these things happen, next man up.” But this is not rally the case.
“It is obvious that the player with starter status is the better man for the position,” the coach explained.
Andrew Revello, also know as “Dice”, is a redshirt junior pitcher for the Bonnies.
(gobonnies.com photo)
When a starter is injured and forced from the field to the bench, the absence from the game causes the most issues. It’s not always healing that takes the most time, sometimes it’s getting back in the swing of the game. Getting back on the field becomes the player’s biggest concern, according to Andrew Revello, Bona’s redshirt junior pitcher.
“I was diagnosed with an impingement in my right shoulder along with a severely strained labrum,” Revello said. “It occurred in the first game. I had worked and trained so hard for that moment and for the season, and within a few pitches it was all over. As soon as I got home I worked with a doctor to figure out what my plan would be to get back out on the mound.”
Sudbrook mentioned Revello’s absence from the game as something that still affects him this year.
“He (Revello) is our number two starting pitcher this year, and I see him battle when he’s out on the mound after being away from the game for a whole year,” Sudbrook said. “He fights with things that are due to not playing the game, taking those extra pitches; he couldn’t he was injured.”
Michael Meredith, senior shortstop, bounced back after his injury and is ready to play ball
(gobonnies.com photo)
In close relation to Ramirez and his injury, Michael Meredith, senior shortstop, experienced an injury before the season started.
“I thought I was going to be out for half the season, and I knew how tough it would be to try to come back in the middle of the year,” Meredith stated.
Being ahead of schedule in his rehab, Meredith was able to work hard and ended up being cleared to play the first game of the season. Although Ramirez won’t make the first game, there are hopes that the Dodgers will see a quick recovery from him just as the Bonnies saw with Meredith.
2013 St. Bonaventure Baseball Team
(gobonnies.com photo)
Bona Baseball Boogaloo 