Mark Mulder hasn’t pitched in a major league game since 2008 and chronic left shoulder issues robbed him of his ability to effectively retire batters by early 2006, but the veteran southpaw has been working on mechanical changes to his delivery between rounds of golf and he wants to sign with a team this winter with the idea of pulling off a grand comeback.
Jerry Crasnick has the story at ESPN.com:Mulder, 36, retired in 2009 after two surgeries on his left shoulder had reduced his effectiveness and sapped his hopes of pitching at an elite level again. He’s been working as an analyst at ESPN since 2011, and had come to grips with the notion that his big-league days were at an end.
But things changed in October when Mulder watched Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Paco Rodriguez on TV and found something in Rodriguez’s delivery that he could emulate. Mulder spent the month of November working himself into shape at a Phoenix-area facility run by former big-league catcher Chad Moeller, and recently threw off the mound for three unspecified teams near his home in Scottsdale.
He said scouts clocked his fastball at 89-90 mph. Now he’s hoping to audition for more clubs and land an invitation to a spring training camp.
“I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am,” Mulder told Crasnick by phone on Tuesday evening. “To be honest with you, I never anticipated this five or six weeks ago. It was just a flat-out fluke that came from me trying to imitate Paco Rodriguez in my living room.” This should at least be an interesting story to follow.
