Levine: Jon Garland Considering Pitching Again After 4-Year Hiatus

By Bruce Levine —

CHICAGO (CBS) — A former Chicago star hurler is considering pitching again after a four-year hiatus.

37-year old Jon Garland is deciding on whether to rekindle a career that ended early in 2013.

The Southern California native posted 136 big league victories, including 18 consecutive win campaigns for the White Sox in 2005 and 2006.

Garland was in town to celebrate the retirement of Mark Buehrle’s uniform number this weekend. He also threw a 20-minute side session with his former pitching coach, Don Cooper, on Sunday.

“I liked what I saw from Jon,” Cooper said. “The ball was coming out of his hand well. I told him if he is pain-free and still has a desire to pitch, he should pursue it.”

Garland started to throw again about a year ago at his old high school. He did so at the encouragement of some young pitchers he worked with there. Prior to that, he had not pitched since being released by the Colorado Rockies in 2013.

Garland was a former number one pick by the Chicago Cubs in the amateur draft of June 1997. He was traded to the White Sox in 1998 for reliever Matt Karchner. He spent 2000 through 2007 on the White Sox major league pitching staff.

“Jon did not depend on velocity to get hitters out,” Cooper said. “He had a very good sinker and he pitched inside on left-handed hitters to get outs.”

Garland said the decision to pitch again would be a family decision now that he and his wife, Lovey, have a 3-year-old daughter to consider.

“I think my arm just healed over time,” Garland related. “When you are pitching every year your whole life, your arm never really has the time to recover. I am pain-free when I throw. This next step will be about a long conversation between me and my girls at home.”

With that being said, those competitive juices are still flowing, and apparent to Garland.

“Just walking out to the bullpen was a good feeling,” he said. “I love this stadium and I love this city. Coop was my pitching coach when I was 18. It was a good feeling — it really was.”

from CBS Chicago http://ift.tt/2t9Wwl2