Eleven years, four major surgeries and countless days of rehab since first shredding his elbow ligament in 2004, Shawn Hill is still trying to make up for lost time.
The 34-year-old from Georgetown, Ont., is back with the Canadian national team looking to defend gold at the Pan American Games in Toronto, and if the tournament happens to be a springboard to another opportunity, then all the better.
Either way, the Montreal Expos sixth-rounder in 2000, slated to start against Cuba on Tuesday, is still willing to continue jumping the seemingly never-ending set of hurdles he’s faced throughout his career thus far.
“One of the biggest things is the success I had back in ’07 (with the Washington Nationals), where I was at that point when I was healthy, I revert to that a lot,” he says of where he finds the motivation to keep pitching. “The other part of it is all of that time where I had all of those injuries, the biggest part of it was that I was misdiagnosed over and over and over again. It’s hard for me to sit back – and I’ve had this conversation with my wife and my family – and say, ‘OK, just because a doctor screwed it up, that I should just shut it down.’
“I at least owe it to myself to give it a chance to get back to the level I was at, at least in terms of performance. Whether or not I get back to where I was in terms of the big-leagues, that’s a different story. But if I can get back and throw the way I was throwing before, that’s a major factor. I also just enjoy playing baseball.”
Trying to do that, he’s certainly endured more than his fair share of pain over the years.
Hill’s health woes began in 2004 when he tore the ligament in his elbow, but pitched through the injury for Canada at the 2004 Athens Olympics before undergoing Tommy John surgery afterwards. After working his way back and posting a 3.42 ERA over 97.1 innings in 16 starts in ’07 with the Nationals, there was radial nerve decompression surgery in 2007, and then another elbow reconstruction in 2009.
None of the procedures resolved the constant pain in his arm, and it wasn’t until January 2012 that he was diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome, which affected the flow of blood to the nerves that pass into the arm from the neck and led to pain in his elbow.
Surgery to remove his first rib and a portion of his neck muscle soon followed, eventually Hill started to throw pain-free again and late in the 2012 season he even enjoyed a surprise stint with the Toronto Blue Jays, throwing three innings of relief and picking up a win in his sole appearance.
The next season Hill again suited up for Canada at the World Baseball Classic and signed a minor-league deal with the Detroit Tigers to pitch at triple-A Toledo, but then another challenge showed up.
“Basically, my stuff just disappeared,” he says.
The trend continued into 2014, when he bounced between four minor-league teams in the Blue Jays, Tigers and Chicago White Sox systems, unable to find success throwing between 83-88 mph, sitting 85-86.
“I spent the off-season getting with (trainer) Eric Cressey trying to get all that right, that was my priority,” he says. “Once I was able to get myself going, I was able to refocus and as the season started, try to get myself on the right path. The Pans Ams was always in the back of my mind, even in the off-season, as long as I could contribute at the level I wanted to, rather than just being another body out there, taking a spot because of my experience.”
Hill believes he’s back at that point now, having identified issues in the range of motion in his shoulder through some bio-mechanic patterning with Cressey, and then working to “free everything up.”
While he’s still working in his feel and rhythm on the mound, relearning his release point, he’s now throwing the ball from 87-93 mph and can sit 89-90.
“Night and day from where I was,” Hill says. “Lately things have started to feel a little more natural again.”
Pitching with York in the independent Atlantic League, Hill is 1-7 with a 4.39 ERA in 67.2 innings over 14 starts. Now he’s at the Pan Am Games ready to once again represent his country, and for whatever comes afterwards.
“I’d like to think it’s not my last time pitching for Canada,” says Hill. “I plan on playing regardless, things are starting to go in the right direction, and if I can throw the way I feel I’m still capable of throwing, which I obviously have to prove and I understand that, I’d like to play for a while longer.
“I don’t feel old, even within the game of baseball, I feel completely ready to go, physically I feel like I’ve got a few more years left, at least. I don’t know realistically if that’s how things will play out or not, but I would love to be able to continue to play.”