 | | | Aaron Poreda Photo provided | | | | | | Aaron Poreda stood on the mound facing down Major League Baseball's third leading active home run hitter-and he couldn't have been happier to do it because Poreda was pitching in the MLB for the first time in nearly five years.
The 2004 Campolindo graduate and Diablo Foothill Athletic League Most Valuable Pitcher starred at the University of San Francisco. In 2007, the Chicago White Sox picked him in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft.
However, after a fast track to the Majors in 2009, and a trade to the San Diego Padres, Poreda lost his ability to throw strikes. At its worst, his walk ratio exceeded one per inning. Eventually the Padres left him unprotected in the 2011 Rule 5 draft, and Poreda was claimed by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Poreda knew the reason for his deteriorating performance, but he hoped he could overcome the injury. "My arm was a little sore, but I was battling, doing everything I could," he said. But the pain in his left elbow would not go away.
He pitched for the Pirates' Double-A franchise until finally, after a game in 2012, he could not bend his arm. Poreda was diagnosed with a damaged ulnar collateral ligament. "We had tried rehab, we tried injections. I discussed it with my parents, my agent. I knew it was time," said Poreda.
He underwent Tommy John surgery that fall. The following March, the Pirates released him.
Newly married, unemployed, and working through an intense, painful rehabilitation, Poreda said that he questioned whether he wanted to continue his baseball career. He credited his love and appreciation for the game for trumping all of the doubts. "The hardest part was the day-to-day grind," he explained. "It was a long, tiresome rehab, knowing that you're not going to pitch for a year. But I was going to make it back, or die trying."
His hard work paid off. In October, Poreda's arm strength had returned and his agent set up a bullpen session in Arizona. The Texas Rangers, one of nine teams to attend the workout, offered Poreda a minor league contact. "It was awesome," he said. "I felt like I was given a second opportunity and I was going to make the most of it."
He opened the 2014 regular season at Triple-A Round Rock. He pitched in five games - tallying five strikeouts and only one walk in four innings.
Then, on April 18, Poreda got the call he was hoping to get-he was called up to the Majors.
"I was in my hotel room in Omaha that morning, feeling a little under the weather, and my pitching coach called. He said to get on a plane to Arlington," he recalled. "Yeah, I was stoked."
The very next day, Poreda was summoned out of the Rangers' bullpen in the sixth inning. He faced designated hitter Adam Dunn, a left-handed hitter with 443 career home runs.
"I took a couple of deep breaths," he said of his first pitch. The 6-foot-6 lefty cut loose a 96-mph fastball. Dunn swung and lifted a harmless fly ball which was easily hauled in by the Rangers' center fielder.
Poreda had officially made it back.
Through May 4, Poreda made six relief appearances for the Rangers, compiling a 1-0 record and an earned run average of 0.00.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA