when it comes to the rehab routine<\/a>.<\/p>\nTo mimic PT techniques, he uses the back of a butter knife to massage out scar tissue and reduce inflammation in the elbow and now owns his own cupping set.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel good, surprisingly,\u201d Jefferies said. \u201cI\u2019ve done this whole thing pretty much by myself, rehab and everything. I\u2019ve done it four times, I\u2019ve done rehab four times. They were all 18 months.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is kind of nice doing it by yourself, too, though, because you\u2019re at your own pace.\u201d<\/p>\n
After his third elbow surgery in November 2024, he would go to the gym with Natalie to lift weights and do his physical therapy exercises.<\/p>\n
\u201cI decided I don\u2019t know if my career\u2019s over or not. I went back and forth with Natalie and myself and my dad,\u201d he said. \u201cI had a few identity crises of like \u2018who am I outside of baseball, who is Daulton Jefferies?\u2019 So it took me a little bit to figure that out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many mornings now, he is on the road by 6:15 a.m. for San Francisco to exercise and then work before crossing the bay again for school in Berkeley. Every day is a whirlwind of activity and bridge tolls.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it was go to the gym early, go to work and then go to Berkeley and back to work and sometimes go back to Berkeley and then come home to Walnut Creek or to the city,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
It was last summer when he sat down separately with Natalie and his dad.<\/p>\n
Everyone in his inner circle encouraged him to give it one last hurrah.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy dad was like, \u2018Dude, you\u2019ve got to go, you\u2019ve got to go for it,\u2019\u201d Jefferies recalled of the conversation, \u201cand I was like \u2018yeah, I\u2019m going to regret it if I don\u2019t.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet given how his career keeps getting derailed by that troublesome right elbow, the decision was a daunting one.<\/p>\n
A first-round draft pick in 2016, Jefferies has played parts of four major league seasons with the Oakland Athletics, San Francisco Giants and Pittsburgh. He owns a 2-10 career record with a 6.59 ERA over 20 outings with 11 starts spanning 71 total innings.<\/p>\n
He missed the 2023 season recovering from his second Tommy John surgery in September 2022 and thoracic outlet surgery a few months before that. Jefferies then joined the Giants and had a 17.36 ERA over two outings when they designated him for assignment and ultimately traded him to the Pirates.<\/p>\n
Former reliever Sergio Romo\u2019s mantra is always on the top of Jefferies\u2019 mind for motivation: \u201cIt\u2019s not your last chance, it\u2019s your next one.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a 30-year-old, I\u2019ve got some time, yeah,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s 34-year-olds in the big leagues, 37-year-olds. I can do it at 30.\u201d<\/p>\n
It takes a village<\/p>\n
Mid-workout, Jefferies politely summons Natalie over to the mound to shoot some video of him from the side. It will allow the right-hander to not only study his hip angle and delivery but also have some clips handy if anybody requests them.<\/p>\n
Twice a week Jefferies has been unloading the equipment from his truck and going through a throwing regimen he has adapted over time.<\/p>\n
\u201cPoor Natalie she ends up being the one to pick up balls,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Time for that changeup. The pitch strays a little wild.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, I hit the guy but it\u2019s OK,\u201d he said with a smile, \u201cit moved.\u201d<\/p>\n
Each time, Jefferies begins his extensive warmup with a resistance band hooked to the back fence. It\u2019s red, chosen years ago when he had hoped to join the Angels. His radar gun has water damage, so he doesn\u2019t know for sure how hard he\u2019s throwing, but he was clocked in the low 90s recently on a visit to Arizona.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very proud of Daulton,\u201d said his father, John. \u201cAnd I know when he puts his mind to something he makes it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Natalie acknowledged the courage it takes for her husband to keep chasing this dream, through setback after setback \u2014 and with that gnarly scar on his right arm serving as a constant reminder of it all.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery proud,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019s proud of what he\u2019s been able to accomplish in baseball. He loves the sport so much and why not try again? He\u2019s working a full-time job, he\u2019s going to school and late at night he\u2019s training. It\u2019s pretty amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
On occasion someone walking by will stop to watch Jefferies pitch, perhaps noticing the odd scene of a man throwing baseballs all by himself. He has chatted with the man teaching golf lessons.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s seen me out here a few times when it\u2019s getting dark, so he teaches the kids about showing up when no one else is watching,\u201d Jefferies said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to imagine how he fits everything into a single day \u2013 from the job to classes, lifting weights and throwing, to being a newlywed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes a village,\u201d Natalie said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes a village,\u201d her husband repeated.<\/p>\n
Jefferies realizes there\u2019s no one he has to convince that he can still do this, but he wants this for himself \u2014 one more time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be a life-fulfilling story just to get back, whatever context that may be. But just to prove that I can do it again, for like the fourth time,\u201d he said. \u201cI just love throwing a ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP MLB: https:\/\/apnews.com\/mlb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WALNUT CREEK, Calif. (AP) \u2014 Time for that first changeup. Daulton Jefferies utters those words aloud to nobody…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521408,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2290],"tags":[146,537,5,28991,2178,69196,60301,4,256,1727,3838,66,10068,185,7826,5971,69197],"class_list":["post-521407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-baseball","tag-arizona","tag-athletics","tag-baseball","tag-berkeley","tag-california","tag-daulton-jefferies","tag-local-news-for-apple","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-baseball","tag-pa-state-wire","tag-pennsylvania","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-sergio-romo","tag-sports","tag-surgery","tag-tommy-john","tag-walnut-creek"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115898273208150012","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}