WooSox reliever Chase Shugart on return from IL: 'I tried to not do too much'
WooSox pitcher Chase Shugart will forever go down in the Worcester history books after finishing off the first no-hitter in franchise history during the 2022 season.
Now in 2023, Shugart has just battled back from an IL-stint that caused him to miss a couple of weeks.
“It’s always in the back of your head that you are not 100%, so I really went out there and tried not to do too much.” Shugart said of coming back from the injured list. “That’s really where I get in trouble is when I try to do too much. Even without the injury, when I try to do too much with my fastball and my slider, it stays up and that’s when I get hurt. I was really going out there and trying to attack the zone but also staying within myself and trying to attack the zone. It felt good and I had a little traffic, and I was able to get out of it. I felt ecstatic after being back out after two weeks.”
The Texas native was coming off a rough month of May. Shugart gave up 14 earned runs in 8.2 innings pitched. That would be good for a 14.54 ERA and a 2.192 WHIP. No player wants to be hurt at any point of the season, but Shugart’s IL stint might have allowed him to reset.
“I was talking with Abbott about it, and he agreed that if it was in August I would’ve been told to just go through it. I was pushing to try to pitch through it but two weeks in June versus two months on the season so that was the mindset of it all. Nobody wants to stop throwing when things are going back because you want to get back out there as soon as possible. It was a good reset. Even in my bullpen sessions coming back off the IL we were really focused on staying connected and moving down the mound as well as I can without any extra movement without trying to do too much with my pitches.”
The month of June has been much more kind to the right-hander. In three appearances, Shugart has pitched three hitless and scoreless innings.
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