Cincinnati Reds minor leaguer Mac Sceroler, after shoulder surgery, eyes return to MLB

GOODYEAR, Ariz. – Imagine standing on the mound at Yankee Stadium with the bases loaded and it's Aaron Judge staring from the batter’s box.

Now add the emotions of a Major League debut. A pitcher worked his entire life for this moment and now this is the welcome to the big leagues.

This is the scene Cincinnati Reds minor league pitcher Mac Sceroler replayed in his head throughout the last 16 months. Picked in the Rule 5 Draft by the Baltimore Orioles before the 2021 season, Sceroler jumped from A-ball to the majors.

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It was the first time Sceroler pitched in a game in more than a year because of the canceled 2020 minor league season. His last start in High-A came in front of 2,377 fans. Now here he was facing one of the sport’s greatest hitters.

Sceroler struck out Judge in a seven-pitch at-bat, freezing the Yankees slugger with a 94-mph fastball at the bottom of the strike zone. Sceroler finished his MLB debut with 2 2/3 scoreless innings, four strikeouts and two walks.

Two years later, Sceroler is trying to find his way back to that moment. It’s been a long road. He missed the entire 2022 season after he tore his rotator cuff and underwent SLAP (Superior Labrum, Anterior to Posterior) surgery. In two years, he was just one of 167 players in Reds minor league camp where most of his teammates don’t know he pitched in the major leagues.

“I reflect on my debut quite often,” said Sceroler, who is beginning the 2023 season at Double-A Chattanooga. “That’s kind of what keeps me going after being in rehab for a year and a half, being down in the dumps, discouraged about surgery. You watch all your teammates go out there healthy and play. I reflect on my debut a good bit to motivate me. Do all I can do to get back up there.”

Reds left Sceroler unprotected

Sceroler, 27, started hearing about a week before the Dec. 2020 Rule 5 Draft that teams were interested in picking him. He didn’t pitch in the previous year and the Reds left him unprotected after he posted a 3.69 ERA across 117 innings at High-A in 2019.

One of the stipulations for Rule 5 picks is they must remain on the MLB active roster all year, excluding time on the injured list. If a Rule 5 pick can’t stick on the 26-man roster, he will be placed on waivers and returned to his original team if nobody claims him.

Sceroler was never rated as one of the Reds’ top prospects, a fifth-round pick in 2017, but the Orioles thought he was a fit for their bullpen despite no experience above A-ball. Sceroler’s uncle, Ben McDonald, was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1989 MLB Draft and an Orioles broadcaster, so it was a special opportunity.

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“Being a Major League Rule 5, there is no flexibility,” Sceroler said. “It’s either big leagues or nothing. I put a lot of pressure on myself to pitch the best I can, which obviously everyone wants to do that, but whenever you apply pressure on yourself, it can kind of throw everything else out of whack. It was definitely challenging.”

The Orioles moved Sceroler to the bullpen for the first time, which added to the list of challenges. Sceroler made the team out of spring training and appeared in five games (14.09 ERA) before the Orioles returned him to the Reds.

Attempting to pitch through pain in his shoulder all season, which included one stint on the injured list with the Orioles, Sceroler made seven Double-A starts after rejoining the Reds before he underwent surgery.

“I felt it coming on toward the end of spring,” Sceroler said. “Trying to make the roster, so I didn’t say anything. Trying to pitch through it as much as I could. Over time, the tear kept getting worse and worse. Eventually, it all fell apart in there.”

Sceroler, after making his MLB dream a reality, spent the next 16 months rehabbing from shoulder surgery in Goodyear, Arizona.

“I didn’t fully repair (the tear) because we’re trying to stay away from the full reconstruction,” Sceroler said. “That severely limits your range of motion. We just cleaned it up a little bit.”

Finally back on the mound

Back on the mound this spring, Sceroler looked like his old self. He was throwing 92-94 mph fastballs and generating a lot of whiffs with his splitter. One minor league hitter ducked when he saw a curveball that landed for a strike, and then Sceroler attacked with curveballs on the next two pitches.

When Sceroler is healthy, he’s shown he can pitch in the big leagues.

“For me, you just have to stick with the process,” Sceroler said. “The game of baseball, you can’t plan for anything. It’s so sporadic here and there. I just come here each day and control what I can control. It’s a slow process whenever you have surgery.”

Sceroler’s Rule 5 experience, even if it didn’t last as long as he hoped, was one he appreciates. There were many things he learned about himself from the Orioles, one of the most analytical teams in the league. He had a better understanding of where he should locate his fastball for best results. He learned more about pitch shaping, spin rates and spin axis.

“I left the Reds for about 3 ½ months, and then whenever I came back, it’s almost like they turned more analytical too, so it was the best of both worlds,” he said.

Sceroler, wearing No. 70 during minor league camp, can sometimes seem anonymous on the backfields. He may not draw as much attention as other young prospects. Most of his teammates, all working to reach the major leagues on their own, don’t know he has already experienced it.

“The ones that know, they do ask questions,” Sceroler said. “For the most part, I’m trying to hang low. I don’t think really many people know, which I want it that way.”

The night at Yankee Stadium, striking out Judge, felt like “a big blur” to Sceroler at the time because there are so many emotions that come with a debut. Now it’s a moment he held onto for the last 16 months.

There are a lot of lonely days during the rehab process. When Sceroler was asked how often he thought back to his time in the major leagues, he responded, “every day," as soon as he heard the question.

"I know what it takes to get there," he said. "I know what it’s like being there. It’s just a matter of figuring out the most efficient and best way to get there while staying healthy."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Mac Sceroler, Cincinnati Reds minor leaguer, eyeing a return to MLB