Zach Bryant 'still breaking in new elbow' since return to mound for the Portland Sea Dogs

The road to recovery after having Tommy John surgery makes the eventual return back to action much sweeter.

Just ask Portland Sea Dogs pitcher Zach Bryant, who returned to game action in June after tearing his UCL during his 2022 season.

“So far, I think things are going great,” Bryant said of his return to game action. “I am feeling great, and the arm still feels brand new. I am still going through some of those growing pains and getting used to the game intensity. It is one thing to pitch down in games in Fort Myers, but there aren’t any fans there. The adrenaline isn’t really flowing when you are throwing down there. When you come up here, there is definitely a new intensity and there was a little bit of getting used to that. The arm had a little bit of push back at first. Once I got over that and got past that phase, it has been smooth sailing since, and it feels great to be back.”

For Bryant, it took almost two full years to get back to pitching. The rehab process is about as draining of a process as there is, as not only do you have to deal with the physical side of the rehab, but you have to keep your mental side going to power through the rehab.

The Red Sox have a decent size group of guys down in Fort Myers currently that are still making their way back from Tommy John that are doing group activities to keep the spirits up.

“I participated in the first off-handed bowling games,” Bryant said of his rehab group outings. “Before that, we did a putt-putt tournament that was pretty sick. We made it a big thing and created a putt-putt tour newsletter that Wyatt Mills made up and made it funny. That was fun and we passed it around the facility. It was a new course somewhere in Fort Myers we went to every week. We had a point system and the losers bought appetizers for everyone. Everyone down there was close knit. It does suck to be down there for a full year and sucks why we were down there, but it makes it easier when you have a good group of guys like that around you. We made the best of the situation for sure.”

After not pitching competitively since 2022, what did Bryant notice about his new elbow since coming back this year?

“Other than the general soreness from getting back into the swing of things, I have noticed that one day I can go out there and my velocity is up.” Bryant said. “I feel like it has been a lot of peaks and valleys since coming back. A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting 96 and was looking good. The next outing would be much lower. I was trying not to hit the panic button, so I had to remind myself this same thing happened during my rehab. Even though I am good enough to throw in games, I am still breaking in the new elbow. I have noticed that when it feels good, it feels really good which is something I have not felt in a long time. I was dealing with the torn UCL for a lot of 2022. It feels good to be out here feeling healthy.”

Bryant has pitched in 18 games since being activated by Portland, including picking up 3 saves. With just a couple of weeks left in the season, the 26-year-old has his eyes on a bigger goal.

“My biggest thing is to just finish healthy,” Bryant said. “Finishing healthy and feeling good is a major win especially after me not playing for two years. That is goal number one. I want to continue to throw strikes and get outs and keep on this trend I am on right now. I want to carry it all to next season and hopefully everything is full tilt, and I can get a full healthy season in 2025.”

The Florida native hasn’t had a healthy offseason since the end of his 2021 season, so this winter will be the first in quite some time that Bryant will have as close to a normal offseason as he could have.

“As far as throwing goes, I want to treat it like a healthy offseason,” Bryant said. “I want to take a couple weeks off and do a normal build up. From a lot of guys I talked to that had Tommy John, it is that second year when everything is fully broken in and ready to go. I am going to treat it like a normal offseason. I won’t be doing anything different or any velocity programs, unless the Red Sox want me to. I plan on resting for a few weeks and packing on some more muscle and see if there is some extra velocity there. I think that will be more due to getting more rest and letting everything recover and bounce back.”