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Rehabbed Razorback gets Scrappers’ first start
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Davenport
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
In March 2011, Arkansas left-hander Geoffrey Davenport suffered an elbow injury and went from a possible second-day draft pick to someone facing Tommy John surgery and a one-year rehab.
He didn’t think he’d get drafted. The Indians picked him anyway. In the 43rd round.
“The Indians helped me rehab my elbow and they’ve given me a great chance,” said Davenport, who had the surgery in April 2011. “I’m just trying to make the most of it.”
Today, Davenport will start the season opener for the Scrappers, who are playing the Jammers in Jamestown, N.Y.
Davenport has spent the past few months at the Tribe’s spring training facility in Goodyear, Ariz., and said he’s confident his elbow will hold up.
“I feel comfortable out there” on the mound,” said Davenport, who is one of two Indians pitchers recovering from the surgery, along with James Stokes, a 22nd round pick out of Elon who missed his sophomore year in 2011 after having the surgery. “I’m not going to be too nervous when I get into the game.”
That wasn’t the case 141/2 months ago. Although about 10 percent of major league pitchers have had the surgery at some point, Davenport knew nothing was guaranteed.
“I was really nervous,” he said of the surgery, where a surgeon replaces an elbow ligament with a tendon from another part of the body. “I was just kind of scared of what was going to happen.
“But they say everything happens for a reason and now you can see how everything worked out.”
Scrappers manager Ted Kubiak is still sorting out his rotation but he said Davenport, Jake Sisco (a third-round pick from 2011), Ryan Merritt (a 16th-round pick in 2011) and Luis DeJesus (an 11th-round pick) will be early starters.
He expects good things.
“They’ve got some really good stuff,” Kubiak said. “Davenport’s got a great changeup, which I think will be effective here. Merritt’s a little left-hander and he threw [Friday] in our [simulated] game and it looked like he was glad to get out of Arizona because he had a little more stuff on the ball than I’d seen down there.
“Sisco is working on his breaking ball and his control and DeJesus just came down from Lake County, so he’s going to fit in the rotation.
“And we’ve got some great arms in the bullpen. I think we’ve got some guys that can throw the ball. We’re working on control with some of them, working on some pitches.”
Davenport, who hails from Fort Worth, Texas, said he has family in Saginaw, Mich., but he’s never been in Ohio or the Northeast. His early scouting report on the Mahoning Valley came from Bryson Myles, who played 50 games with the Scrappers last year.
“He said it’s a great time and to have fun up there,” Davenport said. “I’m just going to go out there and try my best to help the team win.
“That’s the most important thing.”