Over the last 2½ years, right-hander Ethan Roberts endured one hurdle after another in his quest to get back to being part of the Chicago Cubs bullpen.
A right shoulder impingement he suffered in late April 2022 landed Roberts on the 60-day injured list three weeks into his first stint in the majors. Then, in his initial rehab appearance on June 19, 2022, Roberts exited mid-outing because of what was diagnosed as a torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL), which required Tommy John surgery a month later and sidelined him the through 2023. The Cubs nontendered him in the offseason before re-signing him to a minor-league deal in December. He was on track, continuing his throwing progression as spring training got underway when Roberts endured a setback, suffering a subscapularis strain in his right shoulder.
“I was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ ” Roberts said with a chuckle.
The issue cropped up while throwing a bullpen during spring camp, shutting down Roberts for four weeks. After roughly a seven-week buildup and nearly a month worth of game action at Triple-A Iowa, Roberts was added to the 40-man roster June 14. Roberts, 27, held an impending opt-out in his minor-league deal but showed enough during 10 relief appearances with Iowa that the Cubs were convinced he could help them this year.
“I knew that in my hard head I wanted to stay, but at the end of the day, it’s a business,” Roberts said. “I’m grateful that I’m here.”
The Cubs tend to be on the more conservative end of the Tommy John rehab process. Roberts knew he was looking at being sidelined for at least 14 months. He pushed himself to try to get back before the 2023 season ended and, looking back, figures he likely flared up his right shoulder before he even went into the offseason.
“You can’t really rush the process,” Roberts said. “It’s a tough process. It’s hard. You have to make a lot of throws.”
The buildup process post surgery is methodical. Roberts increased his pitch count by five every week, throwing twice weekly.
“It got to the point where I was like, I don’t normally do this when I’m healthy so let’s pump the breaks a little,” Roberts said. “This is hard. It’s a hard rehab and people don’t realize how many throws you make. There’s no telling how many baseballs I threw over two years.”
While the last two years have been a grind, Roberts found ways to take advantage of process. He learned how to better harness his slider, a pitch he learned only four days before the Cubs broke camp in 2022. Roberts also has picked up on how to read hitters’ swings. There is maturity, too, as a player with developing a routine and understanding what he needs to do to get the most out of catch play.
“I’ve learned not to let the highs get too high and the lows get too low because when you’re in rehab you have to be a cool cucumber,” Roberts said.
Roberts has shown why the Cubs have confidence in his potential. In five games this season as part of two call-ups, Roberts has allowed one run in eight innings with eight strikeouts and two walks. Action has been limited, though, since he was recalled July 30 to replace the traded Mark Leiter Jr. Roberts pitched two innings on July 30 in Cincinnati, the day he rejoined the team, but hasn’t appeared since then. Finding a way to stay sharp despite the limited opportunities lately is challenging, Roberts acknowledged, but he knows it will take time for him to earn trust and more chances.
He has savored being back in the majors after grinding so hard to return.
“Just getting my feet wet in the atmosphere was probably the biggest thing,” Roberts said. “You forget what everything sounds like. It’s showed me that my slider is playing like I thought it would. I like seeing where my stuff’s playing for sure. Fastball feels fine, slider’s where I want to be able to locate it on both sides of plate.”
Getting experience facing big-league hitters is what manager Craig Counsell believes Roberts needs most right now. Since debuting in April 2022, Roberts has faced only 74 batters in the majors because of his time missed to injury.
“You want to test yourself against the best hitters,” Counsell said Tuesday. “The early results have been good. His slider is a really good pitch. It’s a unique pitch. It moves on the kind of far end of the spectrum in terms of the sweep of it and that makes it a pitch that hitters don’t like. So we’ve just got to keep getting him out there when we can and those experiences are going to continue to help him.”
Roberts knows there is an opportunity ahead of him over the final seven weeks of the season to show the Cubs what’s he is capable of. He’s trying to take it day by day, though.
“With how crazy this year has been for me, I’m just enjoying whatever day I get to walk in this clubhouse,” Roberts said. “Honestly, I don’t really think about anything further than day out because I can be on a plane tomorrow. I just try to enjoy every day whether I pitch or not, I’m here, I’m having a good time with the guys.”
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