The fifth-year senior is healthy. Two surgeries last spring — to relieve Thoracic Outlet Syndrome in April and to scope his shoulder in May — made sure of that.
But the transition back to full-time pitching has been tricky for the two-time All-American.
Tricky enough that Horned Frogs coach Jim Schlossnagle talked to former Major League pitcher Chris Carpenter on Monday for ideas about maximizing the work Janczak does between starts to get him back to his old self as quickly as possible.
“Just told me about his experience with the surgeries and how he dealt with it all trying to get back to his original form,” Schlossnagle said of his conversation with the former Toronto Blue Jays and St. Louis Cardinals right-hander. “Finding the right routine to allow him to both feel his best and have command of the ball.”
Last weekend against Grand Canyon, the normally efficient Janczak needed 53 pitches to get seven outs. The right-hander struck out one, walked three and hit a batter, lifted with one out in the third inning.
In his first start, against Virginia two weekends ago in Scottsdale, Ariz., Janczak went four innings, walking three and striking out three.
The midweek work leading up to both starts differed as the pitcher looked for the right mix of practice and rest.
“Jared’s kind of that older guy who’s now trying to figure out what routine between starts makes him feel good and at his best,” Schlossnagle said. “He did a few things before his first start that were like last year, and he didn’t feel the greatest. This week, we did some different things, and he was throwing harder — he actually had his best fastball, almost his normal fastball — but his command of his pitches wasn’t great. Now we’ve got to find that middle ground where he does just enough work during the week to touch up his pitches but still feels great.”
That’s where the chat with Carpenter fit. The ex big-leaguer — introduced to Schlossnagle by TCU ex Matt Carpenter — is one of dozens of pro players who have undergone Thoracic Outlet Syndrome surgery in recent seasons, including Matt Harvey, Luke Hochever, Phil Hughes, Noah Lowry, Shawn Marcum, Tyson Ross and Josh Beckett.
It’s a longtime baseball injury now understood better. Former Astros phenom JR Richard suffered a stroke in 1980 caused by a blood clot formed by TOS.
Thoracic outlet surgery requires the removal of the “first rib,” which is attached to the first thoracic vertebrae at the base of the neck. Removing the pinkie-sized bone relieves pressure built up by the massing of tissue and muscle near the shoulder and neck caused by the repeated pitching motion.
Often, patients are given the bone as a souvenir. Janczak said on Schlossnagle’s radio show before the season that he is wearing his on a necklace, shark tooth-style.
Janczak, who made only eight starts last season because of numbness in his shoulder and fingers, isn’t the first TCU pitcher to be sidelined by TOS. Mitchell Traver underwent the surgery as a freshman, redshirting in 2013. Two years later the power right-hander was a Super Regional hero, pitching the last four innings of a 16-inning Game 3 clincher against Texas A&M. He went on to make College World Series starts three consecutive years.
“Thoracic Outlet Syndrome has been quite overlooked, especially in the professional athlete because something always hurts,” Dr. Robert Thompson, a vascular surgeon at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, told MLB.com in 2017. “A person with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome might have pain in the shoulder and might have an MRI that shows mild to moderate changes — and might even have shoulder surgery for something else, like a rotator cuff or a labrum. Only when that doesn’t correct the problem do they look for TOS.”
Janczak is not necessarily a hard thrower. He depends on sink and movement, which overthrowing can disrupt. When he is on, the veteran thrower becomes a strikeout- and groundout-inducing machine. In 2017, he carried a perfect game into the eighth inning against Kansas.
“I’m excited to pitch fully healthy,” Janczak told PressboxDFW.com in April last year following his first surgery. “I haven’t had a fully healthy season here in a while. I’m excited. Want to see how it turns out for a full season.”
Not quite a year from his surgeries, the Belton High School alum is still trying to find that old groove. A career 17-game winner for the Frogs, his next start is scheduled for Saturday night against Texas A&M at the Shriners College Classic at Minute Maid Park in Houston.
Schlossnagle left his talk with Carpenter encouraged for Janczak’s prospects.
“To put it all together, yeah, it usually takes a year,” Schlossnagle said of his pitcher. “He’s battling through some things. He’s a guy that, because of his experience, he can reinvent himself. He’s got a couple new pitches. He just has to find the command of those.”
