KANSAS CITY — Four years ago Kyle Lotzkar broke his elbow right where the forearm meets the upper arm, the olecranon to be precise, putting a career filled with promise into sudden jeopardy.
During Sunday’s All-Star Futures Game at Kauffman Stadium, the scoreless inning pitched by the Cincinnati Reds prospect from Delta, B.C., in the World Team’s 17-5 loss to the U.S. offered validation that his career was back on track after those difficult days, and hope bigger things are coming soon.
“The guys that are in this game are either amazingly talented young kids, or guys who are really close to the big-leagues,” Lotzkar said afterwards. “It’s a pretty good feeling coming in.
“I was just really happy when Bernie (Williams, the World Team manager) handed me the ball, it was pretty cool. It was a little bit of a blowout so I wasn’t too nervous but I was just super-excited to get out there.”
Lotzkar, 22, had good reason to be given his recent past.
The broken elbow cut short his 2008 season with single-A Dayton and he eventually had surgery to insert a 2½-inch screw into his elbow to stabilize the joint, and ligament replacement surgery on the elbow at the same time, having damaged it through all the dodgy mechanical adjustments he made it to counter pain.
The recovery cost Lotzkar the entire 2009 season, and part of 2010, when he dropped all the way back down to rookie ball for 12 games, 10 of the starts. Back in Dayton last year, he made 14 starts while logging 66.2 innings before advancing to high-A Bakersfield to open the current season, and five starts later, earning promotion to double-A Pensacola.
With the Blue Wahoos, he’s 4-3 with a 4.72 ERA in 11 games, 10 starts, striking out 68 in 55.1 innings, earning the trip the Futures Game.
“I was more nervous before the game than when I went out there,” he said. “It was a highlight of my life.”
Helping the 53rd overall pick in 2007 get to this point were his parents and friends, and Shawn Corness, the pitching coach for the University of British Columbia who helped iron out the bad mechanical habits Lotzkar had fallen into before his surgeries.
But also crucial is the deliberate way he must prepare himself now to remain on the field.
“I have to put more preparation into everything I do to stay healthy,” he explained. “I think my body is a little bit more susceptible to injuries than other people’s, so a little more goes into everything I do.”
As a result, his stuff is back where it was and Lotzkar is back on the radar again.
“Velocity-wise (the stuff) is there and judging by the swings that are being taken, I don’t think I’m getting hit any harder than I was before,” said Lotzkar. “I’m at a level where I’m a step away from the big-leagues. Assuming I can get through the season healthy, there’s a good chance I can be in the big-leagues. I think I’m close.”
