TAMPA — How often have you seen a pitcher complete a simulated game by waving — and blowing kisses — to his family in the stands?
Your answer is never. It happened for the first time in baseball history Sunday morning at George M. Steinbrenner Field. And it was earned, and it was glorious.
Or, in the words of the moment’s star, Danny Farquhar, the entire nine minutes of action was “extraordinarily successful.”
“Huge for me,” the diminutive right-hander added.
The Yankees will hold their Grapefruit League home opener on Monday, playing host to the Blue Jays, and they’ll have plenty going on this spring, from the battle for first base to Troy Tulowitzki’s reacclimation to baseball to Gary Sanchez’s reboot to the typical pitching concerns. It’ll be busy. They have a rival to upend.
Amid this typical spring-training noise — lovely noise, if you enjoy this stuff — will be Farquhar’s attempted return to the big leagues. Every step along the way means plenty and thrills many.
Before Sunday, the last pitch Farquhar threw in any sort of competitive environment came last April 20 at Guaranteed Rate Field, where, pitching for the White Sox, he retired the Astros’ Josh Reddick on a fly out to left field to end the visitors’ half of the sixth inning. He collapsed upon reaching the home dugout, and subsequent medical testing revealed he had suffered a brain hemorrhage caused by a ruptured aneurysm. Forget about just being sidelined from game action; doctors proclaimed him to be in critical condition.
He didn’t get discharged from Rush University Medical Center until May 7, and clearance to pitch again only came after the end of the season. The Yankees, who claimed Farquhar on waivers in June 2012 and traded him to the Mariners as part of a package for Ichiro Suzuki in July 2012, signed him to a minor league deal last month.
Farquhar had thrown once in the bullpen and then a live batting-practice session before Sunday’s assignment, which had him face four “batters” — non-roster invitees Giovanny Urshela and Francisco Diaz, twice each — in game situations, with pitching coach Larry Rothschild calling balls and strikes from behind the mound. In addition to handful of media members, the crowd in the dugout included Yankees senior vice president/assistant general manager Jean Afterman and director of quantitative analysis David Grabiner.
And, in otherwise empty stands, Farquhar’s wife, Lexie, and children, Madison (7), Landon (3) and Liam (1), who enthusiastically chased after foul balls.
“I told them I wanted them to be in the stands,” Farquhar said. “It’s just more support that I appreciate. … Just to see my family, my kids so happy and just enjoying themselves gives me that extra boost of energy.”
Urshela got caught looking at a 1-and-2 strike (as called by Rothschild). Diaz “flied out” to left-center field. Urshela walked. And Diaz swung and missed at a changeup for a strikeout.
“He had good stuff,” Urshela said.
“It’s super encouraging to actually have batters, with lots of coaches around, who aren’t trying to swing and miss just to boost my confidence,” Farquhar said. “They’re trying to impress coaches for their careers, too. To see guys step in the box and want to hit a home run off you, and have the success that I had today, it’s in a positive direction. So yeah, I’ll take all of the positives from today.”
“The attitude he has about everything, I think it’s good for everybody to see,” Rothschild said. “It’s kind of special.”
Next up will be another simulated game, Rothschild said, followed by a Grapefruit League game. Another meaningful rung on this admirable climb. Farquhar, a Quadruple-A-type pitcher before his medical crisis, might not help the Yankees much in the boxscores this year. Nevertheless, he already looks like a value-add.
“I’ve had a few guys come up to me and tell me what an inspiration I am,” Farquhar said. “And I’m like, ‘Man, I just met you guys. This is awesome!’ ”
This sort of enthusiasm, of thankfulness for what would be mundane anywhere else, can’t be simulated.