On Friday afternoon, Matt Shoemaker jogged onto the Tempe Diablo Stadium diamond, fired eight warmup pitches, and walked 10 paces behind the mound, his back to the batter’s box. He received a baseball from his third baseman, took off his Angels cap, and adjusted the tucked-in carbon fiber strip that will protect him from what he endured the last time he pitched in a game.
He reapplied his hat, turned around, breathed deeply, and walked back onto the mound to do it again. He pitched for the first time in six months, and he was wild, wonderfully wild, requiring catcher Carlos Perez to come out and ease his mind multiple times.