Uneventful camp so far is evidence of Doolittle's recovery

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The most newsworthy aspect of Sean Doolittle’s spring so far is perhaps the fact there hasn’t been anything all that newsworthy to report.

Doolittle has been throwing off a mound since Christmas. He’s faced live hitters. He’s talking about the importance of pitching back-to-back days before the end of camp.

This is all normal stuff for any reliever at this time of year. Whether he’s trying to come back from a still-fledgling elbow surgery or not.

“I feel really good about everything we’ve done, and it’s been a long time since I had any doubts going into any throwing that we’ve done,” Doolittle said. “I have built up a lot of trust with it.”

Though he wanted to believe this would be the case all along, Doolittle had to have at least a few doubts creeping through his mind after he made the decision in July to undergo an internal brace procedure, a less-invasive alternative to Tommy John surgery that repairs but doesn’t replace a torn ulnar collateral ligament in a pitcher’s elbow.

Only a handful of big leaguers have had this, the most notable example being Rich Hill, who continues to pitch deep into his 40s with a healthy elbow. Doolittle, 36, has spoken to his fellow veteran lefty a few times along the way but admitted he hasn’t spoken to Hill recently. Why? Because he didn’t want to pay too much attention to another pitcher’s specific timetable for his recovery from this procedure, lest he start obsessing over his ability to match that timeline.

“So, I didn’t really have anything to compare to,” Doolittle said. “I didn’t have any expectations for it. I just had this goal of trying to be ready for spring training. So that’s all I’ve focused on, and I actually think that’s helped.”

For the most part, Doolittle is working and looks just like every other Nationals pitcher this spring. He threw a bullpen session alongside several teammates last week. He participates fully in all defensive drills.

There was one notable difference this weekend when Doolittle didn’t face live hitters like most other pitchers in camp did. That’s not, however, because he’s behind them. It’s a conscious decision by the lefty and the club’s medical staff to take things a little easier for now before ramping back up as the spring progresses.

“Right now, I’m in a de-load phase before we really ramp up,” he said. “But I already did nine days of throwing, and I was off the mound four of those days. I got really good work in.”

“We’ve got to be careful,” manager Davey Martinez added. “He feels so good, but we understand where he’s at. We’ve just got to really stick to the process. He wants to go, go, go, because he feels so good. But we’ve got to hold the reins on him, just a little bit. Just to make sure he’s cleared, has checked all the boxes. And then we’ll see what happens from there.”

Truth be told, there aren’t that many boxes left to check. Doolittle, of course, needs to face opposing hitters in exhibition games, which he will do in the coming weeks. He needs to prove his arm and his body can recover between outings.

The big hurdle, in his mind, will come when it’s time to pitch back-to-back days, something he expects to do in the final week of camp.

“Just to put my body through it one time, regardless of how things go in the second outing,” he said. “I just need to know how my body’s going to feel, so when I do this during the season, I know what to expect. That’s probably the final hurdle. The final boss, so to speak, of the video game.”

If this all sounds rather, well, normal, it is. The only real difference for Doolittle this spring vs. others is his contract status. For the first time in his career, he came to big league camp on a minor league deal.

That was a product of his injury and the surgery he had to try to come back. The Nationals needed to protect themselves with a non-guaranteed contract in case the whole thing didn’t work out. Doolittle understood that and accepted it.

But the way Martinez has been talking about him so far this spring, it certainly feels like Doolittle is in the Nationals’ Opening Day bullpen plans.

Provided, of course, he continues to enjoy a boring camp.

“I love Doo,” Martinez said. “And we’ll be better if he’s healthy and makes our club. But the biggest thing is his health right now.”