Tommy John surgery is often times a part of being a pitcher. It’s the unfortunate reality of putting that much stress on your shoulder day in and day out. Matt Litwicki was one of those pitchers who was forced into surgery at a relatively young age.
November 17, 2017. Litwicki will never forget the day that changed the direction of his baseball journey. He was enrolled at Indiana but hadn’t yet pitched for the Hoosiers. Now, he would have to work harder than ever just to make it back to the ace pitcher he was.
Litwicki learned a lot from Matt Lloyd, the former Hoosier two-way player who served as Indiana’s everyday second baseman as well as their closer in 2018 and 2019. Lloyd also underwent Tommy John surgery in his time at IU.
“He kind of mentored me through it,” Litwicki said. “He made sure I kept my head on straight, keeping the emotional highs and lows from surgery in check.”
Litwicki entered Indiana throwing a fastball and a changeup, as well as a curveball that he said wasn’t really what it was supposed to be.
“I’ve always thrown hard, I was up to 94 [mph] in high school,” Litwicki said. “I threw a curveball that shouldn’t have even be considered a pitch, and I threw a little bit of a changeup but nothing special.”
Matt Litwicki discusses going through Tommy John surgery, his development as a pitcher, his relationship with Jeff Mercer and Justin Parker, and much more.
The process was not as simple as just recovering from the injury and returning to what he did well before the surgery. Litwicki was forced to adapt, and with the help of the new coaching staff that arrived in Bloomington in 2018, he found some answers.
Head Coach Jeff Mercer and Pitching Coach Justin Parker found that his open-stance delivery was well-suited to transition into a sinker to assist his four-seam fastball. He knew he didn’t have much of a curveball, so he thought this could work.
“As he became a primary sinkerballer, then it was time to add back in, you can still have the four-seam, because you still need it now and then, and adding the variation of those two pitches,” Mercer said. “It really has been a two or three year process to bring the whole thing together.”
Nothing has come easy for Litwicki over the past three years post-surgery, but it seems to be coming together in 2021. Litwicki has pitched 9 times and has allowed just three runs (all in one game), but most importantly has become the late-inning, shutdown guy, with four saves.
Jeff Mercer talked about Matt Litwicki’s season thus far, his development as a pitcher, his confidence in the bullpen, and much more.
When he comes in and gets strikeouts and saves, Litwicki isn’t afraid to let everyone know about his excitement. After big strikeouts to end innings, he slaps his chest repeatedly and screams. He said it’s not something he’s trying to do, it just happens. But his emotions stem from more than just that one strikeout. It’s from a long road of recovery that has led to something he wasn’t sure he would ever get back to.
“For me, it’s just the satisfaction of finally being one of the guys to throw in those situations,” Litwicki said. “I feel like I’m finally one of those guys they look to to be in the back half of the game.”
“When you get that last out, it kind of just happens. I don’t mean to yell like that, it just happens.”
Litwicki is one of the more well-liked guys in the Indiana locker room, and he’s not the only one happy that he’s found his way back to this level of success. His teammates and coaches have been rooting for him and working alongside him every step of the way.
“It’s just nice to see good things happen to good people who have worked really hard and have been through it all,” Mercer said. “Been through Tommy John, been through being hit around a little bit, been through not being a primary option to being the primary option. That’s the really fun part of coaching.”
