Bronson Arroyo plans to give it 'one last go' in 2017
Free-agent right-hander Bronson Arroyo didn't pitch an inning in the big leagues last season after tearing his rotator cuff in spring training, which came almost immediately after he completed his recovery from Tommy John surgery, but the 39-year-old isn't ready to hang up his cleats just yet.
During a recent podcast, Arroyo described to MLB.com's Bill Ladson what he went through last season after he signed a a minor-league contract with the Washington Nationals, while mentioning his intentions to pitch once again in 2017.
"I just couldn't get my arm to quite handle force," Arroyo explained of trying to come back from injury. "I'd pitch in a game and I'd be fine during the game, but I couldn't turn it back around on four or five days rest. Sometimes it would need seven days rest, sometimes it was ten days rest.
"So I got stem cells pulled out of my pelvis in late August and shot in my arm and it seems to be doing better. I'm playing catch every day now, training, getting ready for the season, try to give it one last go, and I'm honestly not sure if my arm is going to survive."
Prior to the 2014 season, the veteran pitched more than 200 innings eight times, but he's only logged 86 innings since while trying to combat his injury woes. That, however, isn't stopping the one-time All-Star from making one last attempt to come back as he would ideally like to finish his career on his terms.
"It's been a funny, kind of long road since I've had surgery and I can't quite pinpoint why some days I feel pretty good and other days I feel terrible so I don't know if I'm going to survive this year, but I'm going to give it one last go and we'll see what happens," Arroyo said. "I don't have one thing that motivates me the same way that baseball has and to put that down, it's so difficult especially when the game is forcing you away from it rather than you choosing to go away from it."
Over the course of 15 seasons in the big leagues, Arroyo owns a 145-131 record with a 4.19 ERA during 405 appearances, 369 of which have been starts.