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One game can define a career.
One moment. One at-bat. One freak collision at first base.
And it could all be over.
It's not supposed to happen that way. Not in baseball. That rah-rah, every-play-could-be-your-last attitude, doesn't fly in baseball clubhouses. Not when every day is a gameday.
The daily failures at the plate -- where two hits for every four at-bats is considered incredible -- force players to temper their attitude. They need to forget the past, good and bad, and keep coming to the park.
But what happens when one play results in an injury so severe it dictates the action of every day for the next year?
A player quits.
Or he decides to keep playing, struggling to regain what he once had naturally.
On the way up
Current York Revolution third baseman Matt Padgett had survived the tough stuff. At least that's what he thought as the Fourth of July approached in 2006.
He had lived through one messed up couple of months.
In the final hours of spring training, the Chicago Cubs cut him.
And that was how he started the season, looking for work. But a few days later the Cubs phoned him one more time. Sorry for the trouble, they said, come back to the organization. They had a spot for him at Triple-A.
It sounded weird, but it worked out -- for 19 games. And that's when the Cubs released him again.
So he was a Triple-A veteran looking for work. And sometimes that works out, and sometimes it means the end of the line -- time to figure out if selling insurance is as terrible as it sounds.
But the Phillies picked him up. They assigned him to Double-A Reading. And he was playing well.
Really well.
He went through a hot spell at the end of June where he batted .438 (14 for 32) with four multihit games.
He'd pulled himself off the waiver wire, and who knew? Perhaps this was the type of organizational pinball he needed to play in order to reach the majors. He'd spent eight years in the Marlins organization, playing well enough to earn a call-up to the big leagues. But that never happened.
"Despite Padgett's unique standing in the organization and his tremendous success at each level of the system, (he) does not have the overwhelming confidence of the Marlins staff," Scout.com reported in 2004. "If Padgett does not get a shot with the Marlins, don't be surprised if you see another team somewhere give him the chance the Marlins may never give him."
It looked like the Phillies would finally provide him that opportunity.
A fateful night
People in the Phillies organization liked Padgett. Or at least he believes they liked him. And for a prospect looking to finally break through into the majors that can sometimes be the deciding factor on whether a prospect earns a shot or is left to rot in Triple-A.
Padgett played most
everywhere for Reading.
He spent one game at third.
A couple games he swung the bat as a designated hitter.
Most of the time he played right field.
But for the first time in almost a week, he took the field at first base against the Altoona Curve on July 5, 2006, at FirstEnergy Stadium in Reading.
And he just kept hitting. It had been a typical game for Padgett in 2006. He went 2-for-3. He doubled. He scored a run. He knocked in a run. He was on his way to earning a promotion until he took the field late in the game to finish off a 5-2 victory.
Altoona leadoff man Nyger Morgan -- who made his major-league debut with the Pirates last year -- flubbed up at the plate. He swung. And the ball bounced a couple feet in front of him. It was one of those weird swinging bunts where all the fielders have to hustle just to throw out a guy who made a mistake.
Padgett ran to first.
The catcher and pitcher converged on the roller.
And the throw to first sailed -- but just a little bit.
The speedy Morgan, who weighs about 180 pounds, sprinted down the line.
Attempting to save the play and snag the errant throw, Padgett's right arm -- and his glove hand -- drifted into the baseline.
Unwillingly, he played the role of Superman to Morgan's speeding locomotive.
Padgett stretched out his arm for the throw. Morgan barrelled toward him. And Morgan ran right into his right arm, the force of the collision jamming into his right elbow.
Something had to give, and although he didn't know the exact damage -- it was the tendons, ligaments and bones in his elbow and forearm that suffered the most damage.
"I thought I was done," Padgett said.
The Phillies' training staff fitted him with a compression cast and ordered him not to take any painkillers. They wanted a doctor to examine him in the morning. And that's how one of the longest nights of his career began.
He knew he would be in pain, but the biggest concern was his career. By morning, his elbow had swelled to the size of a grapefruit.
"It was one of the most painful things I've experienced, but I'm also thinking, 'Is this it?'" Padgett said.
The collision caused two tendons to tear in his forearm. He suffered a fracture to the radial bone in his elbow. And it caused nerve damage.
Able to joke about the injury now, Padgett looked back on the collision earlier this week.
"I'm happy he was their leadoff guy and not any bigger," Padgett said.
On the mend
Padgett spent six weeks with his right arm in a sling.
Then he spent the remainder of the season trying to straighten his arm in rehab.
Some stuff came back slowly. He eventual could run again when his arm was able to take the pounding. But other parts of his rehab took longer.
The R-Phils reached the playoffs that year and he wanted to return to the club. But he couldn't. He couldn't straighten his arm without feeling pain.
Re-signed by the Phillies and given a raise in 2007, Padgett wasn't the same player. He couldn't extend his back arm at the plate and hit outside pitches with power. From April to July he played for Reading.
In 94 games he hit just eight homers and batted .232.
But about 13 months after the injury, his swing, the movement of his right arm and his confidence returned.
He finished the season in Triple-A Ottawa, batted .287 and hit four homers in 32 games. It was a relief. But the Phillies released him, and he had to find work at the worst possible time.
He didn't have a great year. He was coming off an injury. And he was 30.
"It was stressful," Padgett said. "No organization would even return my phone calls."
But he had one good friend in baseball.
Padgett played high school ball in Lexington, S.C., with the Somerset Patriots head of baseball operations Brett Jodie. And while Somerset didn't have an opening starting spot for a first baseman/outfielder, Jodie knew that some teams in the Atlantic League still needed players.
Jodie passed on the phone number for York Revolution director of baseball operations Adam Gladstone.
Twenty-four hours later, Padgett had a contract.
He's been one of the only bright spots in York's lineup. Despite lacking extensive experience at third, he's filled in adequately. And after struggling at the plate through the first 11 games, he's been one of the first Revs to snap out of the early-season slump.
He's compiled a 10-game hitting streak, going 13-for-34 (.353) during that span. Padgett's average has improved from .167 to .257 in roughly a week.
"He's put in the work ... and good things have been coming because of it," York manager Chris Hoiles said.
jseip@ydr.com; 771-2025
