After Jerad Eickhoff was humbled last summer, he would stand in front of a locker in Georgia or California and proclaim he could handle it because of his mental toughness. He labeled his season “a grind” again and again while team officials indicated he never appeared on the club’s internal medical report. But something was amiss.
The 27-year-old righthander did not pick up a baseball for more than two months — from the time he exited in the third inning of a game last Aug. 30 until November. He has studied the mechanical flaws that mounted to produce uneven results and increased strain on the front of his shoulder.