Drey Jameson is Back to Doing What He Loves on the Mound

Drey Jameson is back in the major leagues following a long recovery from Tommy John surgery. Jameson tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow in July 2023 and underwent surgery that September after a failed rehab attempt.

It often goes understated, but the road to recovery from Tommy John surgery is a long and arduous one. With a recovery time of 12 to 15 months, it's a long time before pitchers can even start to throw a baseball again. Then from there, it's a progression toward being able to pitch in a major league game again.

"It was definitely a long time," Jameson told Arizona Diamondbacks on SI's Jack Sommers. "There's a lot of ups and downs in that. I was thankful and grateful that I didn't have a lot of downs going through the process. For the most part, being able to get back out on a mound and doing what I love to do is the ultimate goal."

For Jameson, being able to step on that mound and compete at the major league level is his ultimate goal. He got one step closer this spring, being able to pitch on the mound and have a relatively normal spring. Despite a strong showing on the mound, the Diamondbacks elected to send him down to Triple-A Reno anyway.

It was in Reno that Jameson needed to check off some boxes in his progression. Pitching in a major league bullpen sometimes means going for more than three outs or appearing on back-to-back nights. The team was not comfortable subjecting him to that type of workload and thus sent him down.

"When I was first told that, I didn't really agree with it completely. But then going down and feeling the workload in an actual game, Spring Training is a little bit different, but when you're actually in season and in an actual game, the workload is a little bit different than what I was anticipating. Looking back now, I agree and understand why they had me go and do that."

In Reno, he appeared in seven games, all of them for no more than one inning. The fewest number of days of rest he had between appearances was one, being April 8 and April 10. However, the needs of the major league roster took precedence, and the bullpen needed some fresh arms.

When he took the mound in Sunday's win over the Chicago Cubs, it had been 654 days since he last pitched in a major league game. For Jameson, returning from Tommy John surgery meant more to him than his major league debut.

"When you have an injury like that, you never know if you're actually going to come back," Jameson said in his appearance on the Burns & Gambo show on Tuesday. "I know the percentage is high, but there's still that percentage you might not recover or during the process of coming back it goes again. That one hit a little more than a debut because it was a lot of hard work to get back to where I was."

Now that he's healthy and back on the major league roster, he'll have the chance to make an impact in the Diamondbacks' bullpen. Armed with an upper-90s fastball, sinker, slider, changeup, and curveball, he has the power arsenal that plays well in the backend. Coupled with a fearless personality and a desire to have the ball in the game's biggest situations, he profiles well for that type of role.

"I love the back end, I love the high leverage, I love the pressure of games. I think that's when I perform my best is when there's something actually on the line. There's a lot of emotion going on and we need to get outs. I think that's when I want the ball the most and that's when I perform the best."

The next step in Jameson's development is transitioning from a thrower to a complete pitcher. For him, that means controlling the zone more effectively with his pitches and challenging hitters.

That doesn't necessarily mean trying to overpower hitters with velocity. While he can reach triple-digits with his fastball, a lot of major league hitters can catch up to that velocity. A common phrase manager Torey Lovullo likes to use is good hitters can put wood on a bullet. Jameson needs to continue to refine his repertoire and be able to effectively change speeds to disrupt the hitter's timing.

Jameson still has some boxes left to check before the Diamondbacks completely turn him loose as a reliever. It's unlikely he'll see a lot of games where he's asked to cover more than one inning or pitch on back-to-back days in the early stages of the season. However, once he clears that hurdle, he has a chance of carving out an important role in the pen.

The longer-term outlook for Jameson is a bit murky in terms of what role he'll play on the pitching staff. While he'll be a reliever this year, he's been a starter most of his career. The right-hander would love to go back to starting again if the opportunity arises but would rather pitch in the big leagues and help the team win games out of the bullpen if that's where he's needed.

Drey Jameson is Back to Doing What He Loves on the Mound

Related Content

Diamondbacks' Drey Jameson Makes Dramatic Return to MLB