Senior back in rotation

Tommy John. \nThis name evokes memories of a great baseball player, a dominating major league pitcher who played for 26 years and ended his career with 288 wins. \nBut for today's amateur and professional ballplayers, this name has become synonymous with months of rehab and a highly-feared surgery. \nFor IU pitcher Nick Vitielliss, this is exactly what Tommy John meant. The senior suffered a torn ulner collateral ligament in his elbow after his junior season. He noticed pain in his elbow and subsequently went to the doctor to have it checked out. It turned out he was going to need Tommy John surgery, invented by Dr. Frank Jobe 30 years ago. \nIn 1974, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Tommy John tore the same ligament Vitielliss recently tore. John instructed the doctor to "make up something," according to an www.espn.com article. Jobe took a tendon out of John's right arm and surgically placed the tendon in the torn elbow. Since then, Jobe has operated on over 200 baseball players, performing the same surgery. \nAlthough Jobe did not work on Vitielliss, the surgery he invented is what gave the senior one more season for the Hoosiers.\nDuring his junior year at IU, Vitielliss was one of the team's top pitchers, going 8-1 during the season and earning second team All-Big Ten honors. After suffering the injury, he was forced to redshirt and sit out last season. But after a long offseason full of rehab, Vitielliss believes he is ready to come back and be the dominant pitcher he was before.\n"Rehab was pretty rigorous, it was a lot of work in the weight room, with shoulder, forearm and elbow strengthening," Vitielliss said. "But after all that work, I think I should be able to come back stronger than I was."\nAfter a tough offseason, Vitielliss is ready to get back to his old form this season. \n"To get back into the groove of things, I just have to continue to work hard and stick to my rehab program," Vitielliss said, "and then come back with confidence on the mound to get back to where I was my junior season."\nSo far this year the 6-foot-5 righty has started six games for the Hoosiers, going 2-1 with a 4.80 ERA. \nVitielliss said his arm feels good physically so far this year, and the hard part is getting back in the game mentally. \n"Throwing some in early games this season my arm feels great, it is just a matter of getting out the kinks," Vitielliss said. "I was really excited and my adrenaline was pumping, but I just need to relax and throw my game."\nVitielliss said he is excited to come back and play his last season at IU, and his teammates and coach are almost as pleased to have him back to help the team. \n"Nick is a vital clog in our pitching rotation," IU coach Bob Morgan said. "He is the leader of our staff, and every time we go out there, we look for him to give us a chance to win."\nMorgan also said the injury is becoming more and more common in baseball players today. Not only pitchers, but position players can suffer from the injury as well just by the natural way they throw the ball. Senior pitcher Adam Pegg knows this is true and said he tries to work on the proper mechanics in practice so he won't get injured.\n"Those two words (Tommy John) -- they are a pitcher's nightmare," Pegg said. "We try to prevent it by working on throwing mechanics, but sometimes guys' arms are so trained to throw a certain way that they get hurt."\nAs the season wears on, Vitielliss should get back to full strength, and this makes his teammates confident as they near the Big Ten season.\n"Having Nick back is unbelievable. He is a warrior out on the mound," Pegg said. "It is awesome to have him again."\n-- Contact staff writer Alex Witteveld at pawittev@indiana.edu.