Just like starting over
It was in an instructional league game in 2001 that Garrett Berger heard a sound that no pitcher wants to hear. It wasn't the crack of a well-hit ball that he heard, but it was a crack in his arm after he threw the ball. Berger was a highly-regarded prospect in the Florida Marlins organization and he was pitching against former St. Louis Cardinals phenom Rick Ankiel.
He even remembers the exact day of the game — Oct. 4.
"I threw a pitch and felt the elbow snap," he said. "The catcher even heard it."
Despite the twinge he felt in the elbow, Berger believed that he could still throw. He tried one more pitch before feeling what he describes as "the most excruciating pain I have ever felt."
Berger had snapped the ligament in his right elbow and the bone at the joint was also broken.
He required Tommy John surgery and it was a slow road to recovery. The procedure, invented in 1974 to repair the elbow of the ex-Dodgers pitcher, requires transplanting a ligament from the player's healthy arm to repair the damaged ulnar collateral ligament.
It took him all of 2002 to rehab his arm and the pitcher who had thrown 98 mph in high school at Carmel, Ind., now only was able to throw 83 mph to 85 mph.
"It was a very humbling experience," Berger said.
He was able to show enough to pitch for the Gulf Coast League Marlins, where he pitched 19 innings and appeared in 14 games.
Berger, however, suffered a setback and in January the Marlins cut loose the player they took with the first pick in the second round of the 2001 amateur draft.
The 6-foot-3, 240-pound right-hander put together hard work and a little luck and made it back into professional baseball after a short hiatus.
He began working out at Round Tripper Baseball Academy in Indiana where he caught the attention of Brewers scout Mike Farrell.
Farrell saw Berger had good arm speed and he felt that he could still be a viable pitcher in professional baseball. Farrell signed him to a three-year deal.
"Of course being released from a team is not the best feeling, but being picked up by an organization like this one is overwhelming," he said.
Berger gets to restart his baseball career in Helena.
He has increased his speed to 93 mph on the radar gun and he has been working with Helena pitching coach Mark Littell on smoothing out his mechanics.
He, like all pitchers will be on strict pitch counts, something that he wasn't on in high school.
He started nine games in his senior season at Carmel High School, and in seven of those he threw 120 pitches. In one start, he threw 155.
He said that work load might have contributed to his injury in the professional ranks.
However, now he is just glad to be in Helena throwing again in a game he loves.
"It's a great opportunity for me and it is a great opportunity to get my career started," he said.
