The spring of 2006 wasn’t supposed to start the way it did for Ryan Zink. A talented young right-handed pitcher for the University of Illinois-Chicago, Zink was considered a potential top-five round selection in the upcoming June Amateur Free Agent Draft. As we all know, life is full of surprises, and during one bullpen session in mid-February Ryan felt a “tweak” in his throwing elbow. Concerned, he stopped throwing, and that tweak was identified as a slight tear of the UCL tendon in his throwing elbow. No pitcher wants to hear “Tommy John,” but fortunately for Ryan, more and more pitchers come back from Tommy John surgery quite often better than ever. He talked to me about the set-back, what his plan of attack is for his road to recovery, and what kind of pitcher he is determined to once again become.
Patrick Ebert (PE): Let’s deal with the unpleasant, injury-related questions first. Can you explain the process of how you determined something was wrong with your throwing arm?
Ryan Zink (RZ): Unlike many 'serious' injuries where there might be some warning signs, mine came without any warning. I had never had any arm trouble whatsoever, so when something happened, I didn’t hesitate to immediately find out what the problem was. The medical staff we have down here is incredible, in that, it happened on a Sunday, and I had the results of the MRI by Tuesday evening. Anybody who has ever had to go through the process knows its just not supposed to be that easy.
PE: The physical comeback is one thing, but how have you handled and addressed the mental and emotional anguish you have suffered?
RZ: From the time it happened I forced myself to fear the worst. But it did allow me to think more about my education than I ever had before. Here at UIC we also have an excellent sports psychologist that works a lot with our team, and she’s been incredible in my development both as a baseball player and as a person in the last couple years.
PE: Were you able to contact anyone who had gone through a similar situation to help give you some short and long-term perspective to your injury?
RZ: Luckily these days it’s hard to go anywhere and not be able to find someone who has had a long recovery from surgery. I talked to many friends non-stop about what its like, the grind of rehab and sitting out the season, and they were extremely helpful in my self-preparation. Like any other challenge in this sport or life, its not nearly as bad as you can make it seem if you’re able to turn it into a chance to make yourself better instead of sitting back and feeling sorry for yourself. You can ask all the 'what ifs' you want, but dreams will never become reality if you’re not focused on the right things.
PE: Did the doctors and/or your coaches approach you on what they feel might have been the cause for the injury, such as a slight mechanical problem, and if so do you have any plans to change anything in the future?
RZ: Nothing. That was the strange thing to everyone. I’ve lived with Therabands for the last six years of my life and kept myself in above average condition. The only thing I want to do is through my rehab to put myself in the best possible position to better myself when I return to 100 percent.
PE: Do you still travel with the team and participate in any kind of practices and/or team meetings to the best of your ability?
RZ: I am 100 percent the same teammate that I was in the past when I was active. On our "too cold to play in Chicago" tour which lasted the first five weeks of the season, I made three of the five trips, missing one due to a couple of exams and the other due to surgery.
PE: Enough of that. What is your best experience as a player so far in your baseball career?
RZ: Winning the 2005 Horizon League Championship to send (UIC to the NCAA tournament), then sending us to play in the Lincoln Regional. There's absolutely no award you could ever win that could beat that feeling. It was the achievement of overcoming so many obstacles during the season both individually and as a team that made the whole experience that much more overwhelming.
PE: You didn’t waste much time enjoying success in college pitching for UIC. What attributes do you feel allowed you to enjoy that immediate success?
RZ: Coaching, hands down. The development of being able to think about what you thought were very simple things in complex ways. Especially in controlling the mental game. Greatness is never forged in the times of peak performance, its forged through the days where you must give 100 percent of your 75 percent.
PE: That success carried over to the summer of 2004 pitching in the Northwoods League. Did the heavy workload of your first two seasons and the summer in between prevent you from participating in the Northwoods League or elsewhere during the summer of 2005?
RZ: After that summer of '04 I ended up throwing about 170 innings between the previous spring and that summer, and I ended up taking that following fall off from throwing. After struggling in that following spring of '05 while still chalking up 120 innings, I felt I had more to gain out of taking the summer off to come back ready to work in the fall than taking the fall off again.
PE: When you’re at your best, what kind of pitcher are you, what do you throw and how hard?
RZ: That’s a funny question, just because I’ve never stood in the box against myself. I have above average velocity; scouting reports saying 88-92. I throw a slider, change up and curveball also. When I’m at my best it’s not really about physical change as much as a mental one. When I’m able to focus on one pitch at a time and keep myself in the present – not worrying about things that happened in the past, or what could happen in the future.
PE: What do you feel are your strengths and weaknesses?
RZ: I don't have regrets. I’ve always tried to use what could be seen as failures to my advantage to learn and grow from them. As weird as it may sound I think success has been a weakness. As I learned last year, you don’t learn near as much about the game or yourself in success as you do through failure. After those experiences, even the current struggle I’m enduring with my recovery from Tommy John, it makes success all that much sweeter.
PE: Can you touch upon what it is like to juggle your academic studies, your baseball career and your own personal life outside of both?
RZ: For me, it’s always the struggle in just finding time for myself. It’s not really any different than a regular student except I’m fortunate enough to get to play baseball instead of working a part-time job to pay for school. It’s not as much about juggling as it is basic time management. Just planning out what I have to do day-to-day and sticking to it.
PE: What are some of your aspirations as both a baseball player and a person outside of your baseball career?
RZ: As a baseball player, I have no concrete aspirations. I mean every kid wants to play Major League Baseball. I just want to go out and play every day as hard as I can and see what happens. I’m already living a dream in every imaginable way, but I’m definitely not done dreaming. Outside of my baseball career I want to coach and teach. I enjoy helping people by sharing the knowledge that I already have, meanwhile always learning more.
PE: As a 47th round draft pick of the Brewers back in 2003 out of high school, did you have any inklings or expectations of where you thought you might have been taken this June if it weren’t for the injury?
RZ: I always heard things about possibly going in the top five rounds somewhere, but in the business of professional baseball, talk is cheap. I was looking forward to playing this year out and seeing where I would end up. Now I’m looking forward to having the next year to work on getting stronger and more athletic in possibly bettering my position for the (2007) draft.
PE: Speaking of the 2003 draft coming out of high school, did any teams give you the feeling that you might have been taken higher than where you were, and was professional baseball any greater of a reality at any point during this time?
RZ: When my family and I found it to be a reality of possibly being drafted, we took our time to really sit down and do our homework. Again, I had heard things about top 10 or 20 rounds, but it was really weighing that option against the option of at least getting a great head start on a college education. Professional baseball is still as much of a reality as ever before, I just feel like now I’m more prepared for it than I was three years ago. Wow, three years, where did time go?
PE: What did you take from participating in Perfect Game events, particularly as a pitcher from a northern state that may not have the same weather advantages as pitchers from warmer climates?
RZ: First of all, I found there's a ton of talent out there. Those events are a blast to take part in even if just as a spectator. Secondly, you see how small of a gap there is between being average and great physically. You get to see how important the intangibles are. As a pitcher I don’t believe there is as much of a difference between warm and cold weather players. I enjoy coming from where I have because anybody can throw and be comfortable when its 80 degrees and sunny. It’s when its 37 degrees with snow flurries when I feel I can look in at a hitter and know I have a huge comfort advantage against them.
PE: Whom do you credit for what you have achieved and for where you are at today?
RZ: My parents and family first and foremost. They have always supported me in everything I wanted to do, and helped me in every way possible no matter how big the inconvenience. Also, the coaches I’ve had: Coach (Jim) Pliner from high school (La Follette, Madison, WI), Mike Dee here at UIC, and my father. It’s not always taking what they’re teaching you, but also understanding how they’re learning from you that causes such an impact.
PE: Do you have any words of wisdom to share with players younger than yourself so that they may better the position they are in to improve their own baseball career?
RZ: Don’t ever consider yourself to be in the position you are in because of how good you are. Take every day as a chance to learn and become better, because just as fast as it all comes, it can all go. Never take it for granted.
PE: Famous last words?
RZ: THIS PITCH. There is nothing in the past, no award, no all-conference team, no success or failure that will control THIS PITCH. Every at-bat, every pitch. Whether on the mound or in the batters box, you have the chance to make a bad sequence good or vice-versa. Anytime you can put the idea of THIS PITCH to the forefront of your focus, you’ll always have the best chance to succeed.
The thoughts and opinions listed here do not necessarily reflect those of Perfect Game USA. Patrick Ebert is affiliated with both Perfect Game USA and Brewerfan.net, and can be contacted via email at pebert@brewerfan.net.