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Yankees News: Ivan Nova’s Know Nothing Approach to Recovery

By Michael Cambria

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If you have any interest as to when New York Yankees starting pitcher Ivan Nova is finally going to toss a live batting practice, don’t ask him. He has no idea, and if you find out, don’t even tell him.

“I know nothing, and I don’t want to know,” said Ivan Nova while sitting in the George M. Steinbrenner Field clubhouse Sunday morning.

A rainy Saturday morning washed out workouts for most of the Yankees, including certain members of the teams pitching staff who were scheduled to throw against hitters to simulate game scenarios. All of them, including Nova’s close friend Michael Pineda, had their workout routines rescheduled for Sunday.

Non the less, when the topic of workouts came up in conversation between Nova and beat reporters, the 28-year-old right-hander didn’t even want to touch the subject. He wasn’t trying to be rude by any means, of course, and he’ll tell you he’s already thrown a handful of bullpen sessions this spring with no setbacks in his recovery from Tommy John surgery.

It’s just that, for a young man already dealing with the pressure of rehabilitating from a season ending injury in his pitching elbow, tied in to his eagerness to get back on the mound and join the five-man rotation, Nova probably would rather discuss anything other than what the next step is in his recovery process.

“It helps me,” he said. “Just thinking about what I’m doing (day to day) helps me. Or else I’ll think about it too much and go crazy.”

It’s been a rough 10 months for the young right-hander to say the least.

According to Brendan Kuty of NJ.com, it was just one year ago during last years spring training routines when pitching veteran C.C. Sabathia said he was expecting big things from Ivan Nova in the coming season. Then, as we all witnessed, Nova felt a slight pop in his elbow pitching elbow during his April 19th start again the Rays down in Tampa Bay.

The pop ended being a tear in his UCL, and required immediate season ending Tommy John surgery. He isn’t set to return to the Yankees lineup until June at the earliest, according to team GM Brian Cashman.

Alas, the road to recovery has been incredibly long for the Dominican native. He’s spent most of the time in Tampa, the home of the Yankees spring training complex. He’s hated seeing his teammates pack-up during the season and go from one city to the next without him, perhaps just as much, he’s hated knowing the schedule of his recovery process.

“I just do my work and try not to think about it,” he said. “That’s good enough for me.”

Let’s hope for the best and keep a close eye on Nova as he continues the road back to the mound in Yankee Stadium.

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