After Tommy John, Fazio readies for return

By Meghan Hall     2/18/10 6:00pm

Listening to the talk surrounding this year's baseball team, you may hear numerous mentions of some player named Anthony. Sounds about the same as last year, right?Well, not quite. Sophomore third baseman Anthony Rendon, Rice's reigning National Freshman of the Year, deserves the praise he receives, but freshman redshirt pitcher Anthony Fazio will be making inroads on Rendon's dominance of the Anthony-related buzz coming out of Reckling Park.

As the team currently stands, Fazio has a tenuous hold on one of the coveted spots in the weekend rotation. So why so much confidence in a player with zero college innings under his belt and who has not played in a competitive game in close to two years?

The 6'1", 195-pound righthander, who attended Beaumont Kelly High School roughly 90 miles from Houston, was a two-sport star for his high school Bulldogs. In addition to being named to the all-district and all-state baseball teams three times and leading his baseball team to the state finals, Fazio was twice an all-district and all-state quarterback.

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With his focus on baseball, Fazio received offers from numerous schools, including the University of Southern California.

Thankfully for Rice fans, however, Fazio elected to stay close to home and pitch for the Owls. He tossed well through the fall and spring practices leading up to last season and was vying for a role as a midweek starter before a single pitch derailed his plans.

"About a week and a half before the season, I was pitching in intrasquad, and I let go of one pitch and it just happened," Fazio said.

"It" was a pop in Fazio's arm that an MRI soon revealed had come from a damaged ulnar collateral ligament, located in his elbow. On Feb. 25, 2009, Fazio underwent Tommy John surgery to repair the ligament and was sidelined for the entire season.

Fazio resumed a throwing program last June and began to toss off a mound two months after that.

"Rehab went really well," Fazio said. "I think it was a blessing in disguise. It was really tough not being able to play last season, but I think my arm is stronger, and physically and mentally I'm stronger."

Still, sitting on the sidelines for the first time in his life proved challenging.

"It was really tough," Fazio said. "I feel like I worked really hard up to that point and then, all of a sudden, I couldn't play. ... Every day, I was trying to learn something new about the game or work out and get in better shape physically and get my arm healthy."

Fazio, who attended each home game, kept busy soaking up every nugget of knowledge from his teammates and coaches. Consequently, he enters this season more mature and ready to play the game.

"I watched all the games and learned tremendous amounts of information from all of the coaches and from the older players, like [former pitcher] Ryan Berry and [senior pitcher] Mike Ojala," Fazio said. "Just watching them and how they had success really helped me and my development."

After nearly eight months away from competition, Fazio returned to fall ball near the end of last semester. It was as if no time had passed - in his first inning of work in an intrasquad scrimmage, the redshirt freshman struck out the side. Throughout fall ball, Fazio compiled nine innings of work with 12 strikeouts and a 2.00 ERA.

Fazio is well aware of his role in the competition for a spot in the weekend rotation, but for a ballplayer itching to get back on the field, any position will be a welcome relief.

"Any way I can contribute will be great," Fazio said. "I'm really anxious to get out on the field and play. It's been a while, so whatever role I'm in, I'll do to the best of my ability.

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