SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- All the projections said Ray Black wouldn't pitch with the same velocity after his surgery to his right shoulder and those projections were correct. However, they didn't account for the possibility Black would come back throwing harder than ever.
"[After] labrum surgery they gave me about a seven percent chance to come back to my former self," Black, the No. 19 prospect in the Giants' organization, said. "Basically it just sunk in for me to continue to work hard. ... It helped me grind a little bit harder."
The odds may have been small, but Black used it as motivation rather than discouragement.