It's a Tuesday night at Florida Ballpark in what might be the 100th time the Gators have held a scrimmage since the school year started in the fall. The score was 10-1, the kind of game where the players are probably just ready to get out and go back to their dorms or apartments. It's a long offseason of hitters facing the same pitchers and vice versa but when Garrett Milchin made the jog from the bullpen in right field to the mound there was a new focus and a buzz inside the stadium.
Milchin came to Florida in 2017, part of a heralded freshman class, and the two-way player had aspirations of his own. He settled into a role in the bullpen and made 19 appearances as a freshman, posting a 4-2 record over 27.1 innings of work. He was well on his way to cementing himself in the rotation in the future.
Everything changed on June 23, 2017.
The Gators were down 4-2 to TCU in the College World Series and Milchin took the mound to relieve Jackson Kowar. The freshman got a quick out before a walk and a single gave TCU two on and just one out. A few pitches later, Milchin felt a pop in his right elbow. He didn't know what happened or that it would send him on a 1,328-day journey to get back to that mound at Florida Ballpark.
Milchin motioned to the dugout and pulled himself from the game, the only game Florida would lose in Omaha that season.
"I definitely knew something was wrong based on what I felt off the mound," Milchin told Gators Territory. "I wasn’t sure what it was but I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to continue in that game and wasn’t helping anybody by trying to stay out there.”
The next day Milchin went and got an MRI, which revealed a tear in his Ulnar Collateral Ligament (UCL), which would require surgery. Milchin celebrated with his teammates on the field as they downed LSU to win the school's first National Championship. He reveled in the moment just as much as the rest of the ballclub but knew that he had a long road ahead.
Milchin underwent a successful Tommy John surgery on July 5th, 2017. The next weeks and months ahead would be difficult but his father, Mike, pitched professionally and was a member of the 1988 USA Olympic baseball team that won a gold medal in Seoul and had to go through the same process. Milchin leaned on his father's wealth of knowledge and his family for support.
“It’s really hard, I’ll say that," Milchin said of the rehabilitation process. "For me, personally, it was probably a couple of days afterward you start trying to move your hand around a little bit, maybe move your arm a little bit. Really those first six weeks are almost all about healing. After that, you have multiple months of just trying to strengthen your arm and shoulder. Then, I think I began my first throwing program around seven to seven and half months after surgery.”
The 2018 season was a wash. Milchin was just beginning his throwing program when the Gators opened the 2018 season against Siena. He watched from the sideline as Florida went 49-21, ultimately reaching the College World Series again, only to lose to Texas Tech and Arkansas on their way out. Milchin's attention was on 2019 when he would be able to get back on the mound and be an active participant, rather than a bystander.
Then it happened again.
“It didn’t hurt that second time but I knew something wasn’t right," Milchin told Gators Territory. “It’s very discouraging, to say the least. Your heart sinks into your stomach trying to figure out how it’s possible and if you did anything wrong. It was very discouraging. I was pretty upset about it for the first few days but after I took a couple of days to cope and figure out what I need to do I was just back to getting a plan together and figuring out what I need to get done.”
What needed to be done was already known. Surgery followed by weeks of healing and months of rehabilitation all with the creeping doubt in the back of your mind that you were chasing a ghost. Would you ever be the same pitcher? What was the point? Why go through all of this again when it could be taken away. Your body has failed you twice, would it fail a third time?
“I gave it a brief thought after the second time," Milchin said when asked if he thought about hanging up his cleats. "That didn’t last too long. I had put too much work and time into it to hang it up there. I knew I was going to work through it and find a way to get back out there.”
So he put his head down and got back to work. His second surgery was on February 1, 2019, just over two years before that Tuesday night at Florida Ballpark.
Through it all Milchin remained an active teammate. He's been credited for taking younger players under his wing and despite the hand he was dealt, never brought a bad attitude to the clubhouse.
“Garrett’s a really good guy. He’s had a little bit of tough luck with the injuries, but the one thing that everybody appreciates about him is that he’s always in here working hard and he’s never complaining," Jack Leftwich said of Milchin prior to the 2020 season. "I’ve never heard him complain once about not being able to play or anything and he’s had it worse than most people have. It’s pretty cool to watch that and we kind of feed off of that. If we got something little going on, we know he’s got a lot more going on, not being able to pitch for a couple of years. That’s kind of inspirational for most of us.”
When the team showed up on Tuesday the coaching staff had the practice planned out and, for the first time since June 23, 2017, Milchin's name was written on the schedule to pitch.
They were all super happy for me and supportive," Milchin said. "I was maybe a little bit nervous, but not too nervous. Once I got out there I felt pretty good and I felt like I was where I needed to be.”
His first warmup pitch sailed high and over the catcher, we'll chalk it up to nerves. There have been two surgeries, countless hours of physical therapy, and throwing programs off to the side. 1,328 days had passed since Milchin stepped on a mound with a live batter. He retired the side without a run and you would have thought Florida had just beaten Miami. His teammates congratulated him, his head coach offering another chance for applause.
When players go down with an injury it's easy for fans to forget them. We aren't privy to the sleepless nights where turning over on your surgically repaired arm send shooting pains through your body that jolt you awake. We don't see early morning workouts and the toll an athlete pays to get back to their former glory.
Tuesday, February 9th wasn't the first step in the journey, but it was a step that gives Milchin the confidence that he can get back on the mound for the Gators in 2021.
“I should be good to go for opening day," he said. "If the opportunity presents itself. I think I’m ready to go.”
