DUNEDIN, Fla. — Right around this time last year, Aaron Loup felt a sensation no pitcher ever wants to feel. Soreness in his elbow; tightness in his forearm; severe discomfort whenever he pitched. Something was certainly not right, and those symptoms often point to ligament damage, specifically the ulnar collateral ligament, which, when torn, requires Tommy John surgery to repair.
“That was scary,” Loup says. “Definitely not a fun few days.”
Relief came in the form of an MRI, which revealed Loup’s ligament was intact and that the problem was actually a strain of his flexor tendon, which is in the same area but a very different injury. Instead of surgery, Loup needed rest, and then a careful rehab program to rebuild the strength in his arm. But after two months of sitting on the sidelines, Loup started getting restless. And, in turn, he started pushing himself further than he was ready to go.
“It was my first time ever being hurt,” Loup says. “And I probably rushed back faster than I should have. Knowing what I know now, I would’ve taken more time. But you’re out for two months and you want to go. You want to get back in games. You want to play. You want to be back with the team. And you end up pushing it when you really don’t need to.”
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But Loup was determined. He threw three rehab outings in Dunedin, three more in Buffalo, and then returned to the Blue Jays in late May. But he was never quite himself. Still dealing with discomfort in the elbow, he started compensating for it, pitching with a more upright posture on the mound and raising his arm slot. Loup’s velocity was also well below where it was when he was a very successful reliever earlier in his career, and his pitches weren’t moving the way they needed to for him to get ground-ball outs.
Although he had some good outings, he also had some very bad ones. And after allowing four runs in his first seven appearances back with the Blue Jays, he was demoted to triple-A.
“It was tough—it was a grind mentally,” Loup says. “Because you know you’re not where you need to be. And at times you see glimpses. You pitch well and see glimpses of what you need to do. And at other times you’re not pitching as well. It’s tough going back and forth like that.”
The big problem was his fastball. Its velocity, which sat 93-94 in 2014-15, was suddenly 90-91. The pitch also lacked the movement it carried before his injury. The action was more flat and side-to-side, rather than sinking and running from depth as it does when Loup’s at his best. And due to the higher arm angle he was leaving the pitch up, which led to more balls hit in the air than on the ground. Loup posted ground-ball rates of 54 per cent or higher in his first four major league seasons. In 2016, that rate plummeted to 40.
But he got through. He was up and down between the majors and triple-A, and he got better as the season wore on, finishing his year with a nine-outing stretch in Toronto where he didn’t give up a run. But his standing had clearly changed on the Blue Jays. Once a multi-inning reliever who faced all kinds of hitters, Loup was now being used exclusively against left-handers, which limited his outings to only a batter or two.
“Struggling a little bit, I lost a little confidence in myself. And then in turn, with not pitching well, your coaches lose a little confidence in you,” Loup says. “I kind of found myself searching. And it gets in your head.”
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What Loup really needed was for the season to be over and to truly rest his elbow. It had never fully recovered from the injury he suffered during spring training. He used the off-season to finally get over it, and showed up in Dunedin this February feeling like himself again. He started working on correcting his arm slot issues with Blue Jays pitching coach Pete Walker, focusing on regaining the forward lean in his delivery that lets him get better life on his pitches.
After a rough go in his first outing of the spring, Loup strung together four scoreless ones in a row, facing right-handers again and getting extended beyond a single inning. His most recent outing did not go so well after Loup took a liner to the stomach from the first batter he faced and struggled to locate. But his performances have still been very encouraging.
And the most promising thing he’s experienced is some serious zip on his fastball. Loup’s been sitting at 93-95 m.p.h. with his heater, which is actually a little harder than the range he sat in when he had his best years from 2012-14.
The action’s back, too, which has helped Loup keep the ball on the ground again, with seven groundouts this spring versus three in the air. His change-up—a big pitch for him versus right-handers—remains a work in progress but has been much better than it was in 2016. And his slider has been effective, especially against right-handers whom he got way from using it against over the last year. He’s throwing all three of his pitches to both sides of the plate. He’s looking like his old self again.
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“He’s having a really good spring,” says Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. “It’s great to see.”
Of course, Loup’s still a reliever, which means things can change in an instant. It’s the most volatile position in the game. But what Loup’s shown so far—in terms of results, stuff, and mechanics—has been very encouraging. He’s likely won himself a spot on the team that will go north at the end of camp, serving as the second left-hander behind J.P. Howell.
And if his elbow troubles are truly behind him, and his velocity remains as high as it has to this point, he could be more of the Aaron Loup fans came to rely on early in his career. Rather than the one fans turned on last season.
“My arm’s felt really good this spring. I’m not worrying about it. I’m just letting the ball go,” Loup says. “And the ball’s had really good life. It’s definitely nice to see. It’s giving me confidence. I’m looking to get back to what I used to do.”