CLEVELAND: Against all odds and medical timetables, Yan Gomes will be a part of the American League Division Series.
The Indians on Wednesday tentatively set their ALDS 25-man roster. In part due to only needing three starting pitchers, the Indians will be carrying three catchers. That includes Gomes, even though his season was thought to be finished.
Gomes fractured his wrist on Sept. 14 when he was hit with a pitch during a rehab assignment. The rough timetable he was given was six to eight weeks before he could get back on the field, which didn’t include time spent on normally required multiple rehab assignments. With the postseason drawing near, Gomes was considered done until next spring.
Indians manager Terry Francona in September gave Gomes a 1 percent chance of returning at some point in the postseason, probably looking ahead if the Indians advanced deep into October. Francona did add that if anybody could be that 1 percent, it was Gomes.
But returning for the beginning of the postseason, and actually in the regular season roughly a month before he should have?
“Yeah, I’m surprised,” Francona said. “I think we were being really honest about his chances and things like that. I didn’t think it was fair to ever put it out there that there was a possibility, because by all rights he shouldn’t have had a realistic possibility.
“And Yan, I think he willed himself to be a part of what’s going on. The other day in Kansas City when he hit the home run, to see the reception in the dugout for him, I’m guessing that made a lot of the work worthwhile, and now to be a part of this, too.”
It was a tough road for Gomes, who originally thought his season was finished and that he’d miss out on the playoff run. With a timetable of potentially two months, Gomes went from a hospital gown to a uniform in less than half the time.
“It’s been a roller coaster of emotions, man,” Gomes said Wednesday. “I went from sitting in a hospital room with my [wrist] broken — not going to lie, crying my eyes out because I’m not going to be part of the team — but then once I got my stuff together, I was like, ‘Ya know what? I can try to make a comeback.’
“[I] got to play a couple games and to be put on the roster is pretty rewarding for me, and I’m just going to try to do my best to help our team any way I can.”
One day, he picked up a baseball and noticed it didn’t hurt as bad as he thought it would. That sparked the idea. Then came the news from the trainers that he couldn’t damage the wrist any further. It was all about pain tolerance.
“I’m just going to tape it as tight as we can and hopefully it stays together,” Gomes said. “But I can tell you, I’m going to give 100 percent every time. … The first time I hit, it didn’t feel very good. The second time, I saw some progress. This was three days after. The [wrist] is still broken, there’s still going to be some pain, but they told me, ‘Look, if you can tolerate it, it’s not going to get any worse.’ ”
It’s still unclear how much Gomes will be able to contribute, or how much Francona will use him. But it completes a comeback that shouldn’t have been possible, considering the injury and that a person can’t will a fractured bone to heal.
The Indians often have pinch-hit for their catchers and have had them catch a few innings each, and that could continue in the postseason. Gomes, fractured wrist and all, will be a part of it.
During his rehab, he remembered the crowd for the 2013 AL wild-card game. And he didn’t want to miss Thursday night’s atmosphere.
“That’s the one thing I’ve been talking to Roberto [Perez] and maybe a couple other guys who weren’t there or haven’t been a part of that,” Gomes said. “I had goose bumps going to warm up the pitcher. That’s how loud our crowd already was.
“I can’t wait. It’s going to be fun.”
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Indians blog at www.ohio.com/indians. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RyanLewisABJ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RyanLewisABJ