McFarland ready to start pitching again

By Roch Kubatko

Orioles

March 13, 2016, 8:43am

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SARASOTA, Fla. - T.J. McFarland threw about 25 pitches in his bullpen session this morning and said his left elbow felt good.

"Threw a good side and no problems. Everything was good, coming out all right," he said.

"Tomorrow, we'll reassess it. I'm not anticipating any problems, but tomorrow they'll reassess it in the morning and we'll go from there. I think I feel good and ready to get back out there."

McFarland has made only two spring relief appearances, the last on March 6. He's ready to get back into a game.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter, pitching coach Dave Wallace, bullpen coach Dom Chiti and special instructor Ramon Martinez watched McFarland's session. Assistant athletic trainer Brian Ebel also stood nearby.

"I think we're going to go straight to games now, but that's not on me," McFarland said. "That's collective with the trainers and how Buck feels and where I can get work in, so we'll see. But yeah, everything feels good."

McFarland could be a valuable piece in the bullpen as a left-handed long man backing up five right-handed starters. He just needs to be healthy, and anything that involves the elbow is going to set off internal alarms for a pitcher.

"The first couple of days after it happened, we saw like significant signs that it was going to be all right," he said. "I was kind of relieved within the first couple of days. But yeah, definitely, it's a scary part of your body, especially for a pitcher, to kind of tweak, so you've got to be careful."