Gray stays optimistic in early days of recovery from elbow surgery

Josiah Gray stood in the clubhouse at Nationals Park, his right arm protected by a complex brace, only 10 days removed from major elbow surgery, and had no trouble smiling wide.

“I love seeing everybody,” he said. “I love still being a part of this, still being part of the team and rooting for our guys. Just seeing everybody’s face yesterday was settling.”

In these early days of recovery, there isn’t much for Gray to do from a rehab standpoint. He takes part in about one hour of physical therapy a day, but that’s all for now. It’ll be months before he’s allowed to throw a baseball again. It’ll be at least a year before he’s pitching in a big league game again, maybe longer.

Gray isn’t the first to have Tommy John surgery, nor will he be the last. He’s already consulted with a number of friends in the game who have been through this before – notably Cade Cavalli, Jake Irvin and Joe Ross – and learned some valuable lessons about the proper mental approach to his recovery.

“This is a long process, but also you can learn a lot about yourself in this process,” he said. “You can come out of it a better athlete, a better pitcher, a better person. … I’m looking forward to seeing where I’m at this time next year.”

Gray made only two starts this season before going on the 15-day injured list with a flexor strain in his forearm. He appeared to be on the verge of coming back from that ailment last month, with only one more rehab start at Triple-A Rochester scheduled before he was set to be activated. Then he felt a recurrence of elbow pain, was shut down and sent to get an MRI, which revealed a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament.

Gray traveled to Dallas last week to meet with orthopedist Keith Meister, who informed the right-hander he might opt to perform both Tommy John surgery and an internal brace procedure to further strengthen his elbow, but he wouldn’t know for sure until he could see the damage firsthand. Gray woke up 45 minutes later and learned Meister indeed performed both procedures, taking a tendon from his wrist and replacing the torn UCL while also adding the internal brace. He wasn’t disappointed by the revelation.

“It doesn’t change recovery time at all,” said Gray, who in a best-case scenario would be pitching for the Nationals next August. “It was just more so making sure that ligament is nice and strong so I can recover, and when I’m on my way back, hopefully have no setbacks.”

He knows he can’t think too much about an eventual return date right now. That would drive him crazy. He tries to keep his focus on whatever task he has before him that day, which includes being in the clubhouse and dugout supporting his teammates the rest of the season.

Gray, though, remains optimistic.

“That’s the only way you can look at it,” he said. “This is going to be a short blip in what is the hopes of a long career. You have to be optimistic. You have to understand there will be good days, there will be bad days. But as long as you understand this is a year, maybe 14 months, of time you’re going to have to develop, to work on yourself. And those 14 months can turn into a long career.”