Wells happy with progress made from elbow surgery and distractions at home that make it easier to cope

Tyler Wells doesn’t know about a timetable that puts him back into a major league game. He won’t ask. Ignorance in some cases is bliss and intentional.

Wells is recovered from reconstructive-elbow surgery last June and is going through the early stages of a throwing progression. He’s played catch on flat ground for the past week.

“Everything’s been feeling really good with those,” he said yesterday.

“Hoping to get off the mound soon. Elbow’s feeling great, shoulder’s feeling great, body’s feeling good. So right now we’re just in that phase right now where we’re getting in flat grounds and hopefully in the next week or two we’ll be off the mound.”

The internal brace procedure is supposed to shorten the recovery period. The Orioles won’t rush Wells, but they need healthy pitchers.

Kyle Bradish had Tommy John surgery in June and he’s throwing in the bullpen. Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias said both pitchers are expected back in the latter half of the summer.

Wells is the one with the newborn daughter, Ava Faye, who arrived a month ago. His physical condition enabled him to stay close to wife Melissa and be a doting father to Ava at their Jacksonville home. But he didn’t shut down the baseball side of his life. He wants it known that he didn’t pause his rehab.

“We were just kind of in a maintenance phase at that point,” he said. “I had a good training facility (CORTX Sports Performance) down there where I was able to go in, get my lifts in, get my throwing in. It’s actually kind of cool because some of the friends I made out there were there. Some of my lighter days, I got to play catch with (quarterback) Brock Purdy. Get to throw with him a little bit, talk with the guys.

“It’s just a really cool opportunity to be able to have a kid, still be able to get our training and rehab stuff done, and also be able to see some old friends I hadn’t seen in a while. There’s definitely some really bad parts about being in rehab, not being able to help the team, but at the same time, too, there’s definitely wins you’ve got to take out of it. And now get to come back up here and get to work. Looking forward to getting back and attacking the rehab and get off the mound again.”

Any athlete in Wells’ position faces challenges to remain patient. His last start was April 12, 2024. The discomfort in his elbow didn’t seem that serious. He talked about decisions being made for precautionary reasons.

He had surgery two months later, the second reconstructive procedure on his elbow.

“The patience aspect whenever you’re feeling good is always hard because you kind of want to continue to push it, but as we continue to focus on the bigger picture, I think that that really allows us to hone in on exactly what we’re wanting to do,” Wells said. “I think right now it’s pretty easy to be patient because we know where we’re at is really good. How we’re feeling, all that stuff has been great, so we’re just hoping to keep it that way.”

Ava is too young to understand, but she’s giving her father some perspective. His life already was good, but another elbow surgery and time missed is much more tolerable with her around. Cradling his baby in his arms makes everything better.

Wells can be immersed in his rehab but also escape it.

“It allows you to go home and be Dad,” he said.

It really doesn't get much better than that.

“I think there are definitely elements to where, you know this is the livelihood, this is how you provide for your family, and it definitely gives you a different level of focus. But it’s nice to be able to kind of leave baseball at the field and go home, be Dad. And you know whenever you go home, whether you have bad games, bad days or whatever it is, they’re just happy to see you," Wells said.

“Those are the things I look forward to the most as we begin this journey. I mean, it’s crazy to think she’s already a month old. So we’re just going at it and enjoying it. They just got up here, so I’m going to take every chance I get to spend time with them, enjoy it and just kind of focus on what I do here.”

The work in Baltimore is intended to put Wells in the rotation or bullpen down the stretch – whenever it happens.

Don’t ask about possible dates. He has no idea.

“Right now, I don’t know the timeline because I don’t want to know,” he said. “I just want to take it day-by-day. I want to focus on today, I want to attack today and leave it at that. That’s the easiest way for me to go through it mentally.

“Going through this a second time, it’s kind of, you just refine your process a little bit better. Knowing that you’re not looking too far ahead is always good.”