The Minor Setback: How Jeremiah Estrada has Battled Injuries to Lead Pelicans Bullpen
by Sam Weiderhaft
Jeremiah Estrada was ready. Fresh off his rehab for his 2019 Tommy John surgery after his second arm injury, he had worked his way back and was ready to return in 2020. Then, the world was put on pause, and so was Estrada’s progress.
The right-handed pitcher out of Palm Desert High School in Southern California was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 6th round of the 2017 MLB Draft after impressing scouts during previous showcases. At the time, the then 18-year-old was viewed as a promising arm with a ton of time to develop as a rare high school draft pick by Theo Epstein and the Cubs. And that’s exactly how it started out.
Estrada started out his professional baseball career in the Arizona League, throwing in four games with a 1.42 ERA in just over six relief innings pitched. What followed would only be the start of the young pitcher’s injury problems.
A sprained UCL suffered in the offseason would keep Estrada out of competitive games for 22 months, from August 2017 to June 2019. Because of his youth, Estrada did not have to undergo the feared Tommy John surgery and instead slowly worked his way back from the arm injury through the next year and a half.
Heading into 2019, Estrada would be moved up a level to short-season Single A with the Eugene Emeralds. His hard work was quickly rewarded as he threw an immaculate inning against the first three batters he faced since 2017.
He threw four innings in his first appearance back against the Hillsboro Hops, started the next game, and came out of the bullpen against the Hops on June 28. As the game went on, he could tell his arm felt a little tighter than normal.
“It felt good enough, but I knew at any moment it could snap,” Estrada said.
After he had been back throwing for two months, however, the COVID-19 pandemic shook the world. Estrada was sent back to his home in California in the middle of his progression to train on his own.
“I still wanted to work out, but the quarantine laziness kicked in,” Estrada said. “We weren’t allowed to go anywhere; I couldn’t even get into my old high school field.”
Running out of options, Estrada started throwing against a net and working with resistance bands before the Cubs told him in July to stop throwing altogether. He took the extra time during the late summer to rest leading up to his highly anticipated 2021 season, while also building a mound in his backyard with his dad to use for bullpens.
When the year turned, the excitement grew. Estrada threw with his dad to get the arm ready before he was told to report to a training facility in Los Angeles.
“It was two hours away from where I live,” Estrada said. “So, I stayed with my cousin in the LA area for one or two months while I trained.”
While he waited for the Cubs to give him a report date back to Arizona, Estrada headed back home and started throwing bullpens. In his first session since being put on pause, he hit 83- well under the 90 miles per hour he had been used to. His friend, Hunter Greene who’s in the Cincinnati Reds organization, hit 98 in his first bullpen since coming back from his Tommy John surgery just a few months before Estrada. He began to worry.
“When I got to Arizona in early May, I only hit 86 in my second bullpen,” Estrada explained. “I had gained weight and was afraid the Cubs were going to get mad.”
So, he started waking up at 5 a.m. to get back in the training rhythm. Within three weeks, he was back to form. He hit 90 in the third bullpen to much relief.
The next step for Estrada was getting assigned to a team. He had been waiting in Arizona before a Sunday phone call gave him the news he’d been waiting on for almost two years.
“I was told I was going to Myrtle after I went to church and that was the best news I’ve heard in a while,” Estrada said with excitement.
He arrived on Monday, May 31, and met with the coaching staff, including Pelicans Pitching Coach Clayton Mortensen. “Morty,” as the pitchers call him, hadn’t known much about Estrada’s journey but quickly found out about his ups and many downs.
“I had a few conversations to see where his mindset is,” Mortensen said. “He’s had to harden up pretty fast.”
And harden up fast he did. Estrada didn’t expect to pitch in Tuesday’s game, or really the whole series for that matter. On Wednesday, Pelicans Manager Buddy Bailey approached him with three words:
“You’re pitching today.”
“I was excited but very nervous,” Estrada said. He spent the whole game pacing around the bullpen area, not knowing when his number would be called.
Now at 22 years old, Estrada has developed a fast method of working on the mound. He waits until the last possible minute to stare down the hitter because he doesn’t care who he’s throwing against.
Except this time was different.
“As soon as I turned around that first time and saw a batter wearing a different jersey, I got worried,” Estrada said. “Because of the last time that happened.”
He would throw two scoreless innings against the Columbia Fireflies in his first appearance since June of 2019 with two strikeouts. After only hitting 83 mph about a month earlier, the adrenaline pushed his fastball to 92.
“I was like, ‘THANK GOD’,” Estrada said with relief.
“Getting that over and done with benefitted him,” Mortensen said. “Being a younger guy, it’s tough to see the end game. What I told him was you need to let go of that guy you were before you signed because you’re different, you’re always evolving, that’s just the way the game works.”
After three more appearances throughout the month of June, Estrada became a part of Pelicans’ history. In just his fifth game pitching with the team, Estrada threw just under three innings of a combined no-hitter against the Columbia Fireflies: just the second in team history, and first in nine years.
“That felt amazing,” Estrada said, cracking a smile. “I actually didn’t know I was pitching in a no-hitter until the eighth inning.”
As the season hits its halfway point, Estrada has pitched in eight games and holds the lowest ERA on the team at 0.69. He’s been continuing to work with Mortensen on his pitch arsenal, as well as his confidence.
“The biggest emphasis has really been hammering the day-to-day work,” Mortensen said. “There’s been games where he’s been lights out, but we’ve also had times where he’s been more passive. He needs to bring the attitude from pitch one to the end.”
Estrada has finally been able to make routine appearances on the mound. While the group he started out with has gone on to win the 2018 Northwest League Championship with the Eugene Emeralds and the 2019 Midwest League Championship with the South Bend Cubs, Estrada couldn’t be happier to be on the hill in Myrtle Beach, waiting until the last possible second to stare down the hitter.
“It’s going to be a major comeback.”
Read more feature stories in our Beachbound & Down Blog linked below.
