PEORIA, Ariz. —
Ben Fritz knows all the tricks the mind can play, the places it can wander off to, the places it shouldn’t be when engulfed in the isolation of a rehab schedule. He returned from such places following his own career-altering Tommy John surgery.
The trials and pitfalls of his journey has served many a pitcher well during Fritz’s two-year run as the Padres’ rehab coordinator, his mental Rolodex of arms up and down the organization among the biggest assets opening a path for a long-awaited promotion as new pitching guru Larry Rothschild’s bullpen coach.