Jonny Venters has made 16 appearances for the Tampa Bay Rays this season. The fact he has appeared in a major-league game at all seems nothing short of remarkable.
The 33-year-old left-hander has undergone three Tommy John surgeries to repair a ligament in his elbow and a fourth procedure that, while not a full-blown Tommy John, was nonetheless something that could have terminated a comeback for good.
Through it all, Venters journeyed determinedly toward a bright light at the end of a lengthy tunnel, one potholed with the monotony of setbacks and rehab.
“There was certainly more than one moment when I went into the trainer’s room and I just didn’t have it that day,” he said prior to Sunday’s game against Seattle at Tropicana Field. “I questioned what I was doing and if I was crazy for doing this, or even if success was possible. But on those days I tried to work as hard as I could. When I got to work and started to do the things I needed to, I began to feel better about it.”
Venters never felt better than the evening of April 25 in Baltimore. After being recalled earlier in the day from Triple-A Durham, he appeared in a major league game for the first time since October 5, 2012, when he pitched for the Atlanta Braves in a wild-card game against St. Louis.
With the Rays leading 6-4 in what would be an 8-4 win, manager Kevin Cash summoned Venters in the sixth inning to face lefty-swinging Chris Davis. He need only four pitches (an ironic number given his four procedures) to retire Davis on a grounder to third. Just like that, an unforgettable chapter in a remarkable journey was written.
“I was a mess,” he said of his emotions that evening in what was his first visit to Camden Yards. “The whole day was a whirlwind. It was kind of like my debut. I was nervous, excited and a lot of other emotions. My family made it from Atlanta. It was a special day. I will never forget it.”
It could be argued Venters, who has blanked the opposition in 14 of his 16 appearances, was a long shot to be a major leaguer to begin with. He was a 30th round draft-and-follow selection of the Braves following a season (2003) at Indian River Community College in Fort Pierce, Fla. Though that draft process no longer exists, it meant the player's (typically a latter-round pick) progress would be evaluated by the selecting team before deciding whether to sign him. The team would have to sign him within a year or the player re-enters the draft.
Venters signed, played at the rookie level in 2004 and spent all of 2005 with the Braves’ Class A affiliate in Rome, Ga. It was at the end of that season when he first had Tommy John surgery. After rehabbing all of 2006 he returned the next season and continued to climb the organizational ladder until making his big league debut in 2010. That was the first of three strong seasons – he was an all-star in 2011 – as a set-up man, the last two of which Craig Kimbrel was the Braves’ closer.
Venters opened the 2013 season on the disabled list and ultimately underwent a second Tommy John surgery. A third surgery in September 2014 aborted any hope of a comeback and the Braves released him a week before Thanksgiving.
“I don’t think I rushed back,” Venters recalled. “I think there were days I was sore and I tried to push through it, especially after the second surgery. The first one was successful, so I just kind of assumed the second one would be successful. I threw some when I shouldn’t have and I never recovered.”
The Rays signed Venters in March 2015 to a two-year deal, which represented a pleasant surprise given all that he had been through to that point.
“After I had my third surgery I didn’t know if anybody would be interested in signing me,” he said. “The Rays were interested and I cannot say enough good things about how they treated me and my family. Even after the third (surgery) failed, they stayed in touch with me and were interested in bringing me back. I was blown away by their support.”
Venters returned to the mound in 2016 when he made five appearances for Tampa Bay’s Florida State League (Class A) affiliate in Port Charlotte. However, his elbow still was not right.
Yet another procedure proved necessary. To prevent drilling into a weakened bone a fourth time, a less invasive procedure was done to reattach the ligament. Less invasive or not it was a potential roadblock to ever pitching again. Venters was, after all, 31 at the time.
“That was a tough one,” he said. “I went into that (procedure) telling myself that this would probably be it. The Rays were really cautious with me. They gave me breaks in my throwing program and I feel that we did everything right. Then I got into my fifth game and to have it give out again was tough. I was almost two years removed from the previous surgery and that recovery went smooth. So (the fourth procedure) was a tough one to swallow because of all the time and effort we put in. I had to deal with it and move forward.”
That’s exactly what he did. Having re-upped with the Rays for 2017, Venters made great progress and into 24 games minor-league games. He opened this season at Durham, which set the stage for his evening in Baltimore.
Five and a half years between major-league appearances is a long time. A lot can happen and since that last game with Atlanta the size of Venters’ family has grown by two. Jonny and his wife, Viviana, to whom he has been married 10 years, were the proud first-time parents of Wyatt in 2012. Five-year-old Walker and Evie, born earlier this year, have since been welcomed to the family.
“I had five years where I got to be around my family pretty much every day,” he said. “When I was rehabbing in Port Charlotte they were there. When I was rehabbing back home in Atlanta they were there. So I got to see my wife, kids and parents every day. That definitely helped make everything easier.”
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Nate Eovaldi’s stall is on the same side of the Rays’ clubhouse as Venters’. The right-hander endured two Tommy John surgeries and on May 30 at Oakland he made his first appearance in the majors in nearly two years. It was a memorable return on multiple fronts as the 28-year-old no-hit the A’s for six innings. While they have shared the clubhouse for only a matter of weeks, Eovaldi appreciates what Venters has been through.
“Hats off to him and the way he has persevered through everything,” he said following his start Sunday, his first appearance at Tropicana Field as a member of the Rays. “It’s tough. I know he went (through four procedures) and he has been able to come back and has been real strong for us.”
Eovaldi’s mindset during his own arduous recovery was to plow through and look forward to the next step.
“I feel like I couldn’t really dwell on the fact that I had one (surgery) and then I had two (surgeries),” he said. “You can’t feel sorry for yourself. You have to trust the process and everything. Just keep taking it a step at a time and a day at a time.”
That in part is Venters’ message to players who are enduring a similar road to recovery in the wake of Tommy John surgery.
“Be positive and be diligent in your work with your rehab,” he said. “Listen to your body, listen to your arm. I made mistakes throwing when I probably should have taken a day off. Just be patient and stay positive.”
That approach ultimately got Venters back to The Show.
