Athens Academy junior overcomes difficult injury, returns to the mound as a firecracker

As a freshman for Athens Academy baseball, coach Casey Kane called now-junior Thomas Ferland "one of his best pitchers."

But, that summer, while he was playing with his travel ball team East Cobb, one of the premier teams in the state, pain began to seep into the cracks. He noticed something was off, things weren't working quite right when he'd whip the ball toward the plate. He'd lost his velocity, his momentum.

Playing through the uncomfortable ache in his shoulder quickly turned a trip to the doctor for an MRI. It was one of his worst fears: torn labrum. Ferland missed his entire sophomore season, both high school and travel, as he recovered from the injury.

"It was really hard, especially when you hear the news at the start that I was going to miss the whole year," Ferland said. "Sophomore year is a big year for recruiting, especially sophomore summer. So, it's definitely hard to hear at the start, but I decided to put my mind (solely) toward rehabbing and getting back out on the field. I tried the best I could. I was still here for every single game."

Today, after his first full month back on the mound, he still only feels 90-percent "back."

"I still have some room to grow, especially developing as a pitcher after surgery," Ferland said.

"I think it's a challenge for him, because it's not just the physical part, it's also getting back mentally and that little bit of the unknown," Kane said. "He's pitching fantastic for us, and you'd have to ask him, but I think the physical part is almost there, as far as being 100-percent. It's getting used to being back out there and not worrying about anything, being confident he's going to be okay. (That's still coming.)"

Injured players don't necessarily want to stick around their program as consistently while they rehab, Kane said. They can become emotional, sad and angry, because they aren't out there with their friends getting to do what they love most. Ferland, however, helped keep scorebooks, traveling with the team to keep stats and remain in comradery with the ever-changing classes, getting to know the freshmen and say goodbye to his seniors.

"I missed a lot, but it didn't feel like I missed anything when I came back," he said. "It just felt kind of like I left off where I was. ... At a small school like us, (that's huge)."

"I think, because he has such a passion for the game, he was around all the time, even if it was hard for him," Kane said. "It was good for him, though. He worked extremely hard and got back a lot sooner from an offensive standpoint than we would've thought."

Kane said Ferland actually got to hit at the end of the season, avoiding the mound and the field as to not aggravate his arm, so it wasn't a total lost year. His contributions came in different forms, and that was important. It kickstarted the next journey in Ferland's career: becoming a jack of all trades.

Along with pitching, which is his first and biggest love, Ferland is a first baseman and an outfielder. Pitching wise, he’s 3-1 with a 3.23 ERA. Offensively, he has a .395 batting average with seven runs, four doubles, six RBIs and four stolen bases.

They've been trying to limit his time in the outfield, to protect his arm from throwing long distances, but when he's needed out there, he can perform at the highest levels. Not to mention, he's a fantastic first basemen, Kane said. He's been doing a lot for the team this year, making up for lost time.

"He's been playing at a high level since he was a little kid," Kane said. "He's played for East Cobb, been on one of the best teams in the country since he was little, so he's been around baseball. He has a huge passion for it. He kind of, I don't want to say lives it, but close to it, you know? He's dedicated a lot of his time to the sport, and we knew, as a freshman, we were getting something special (in him)."

Sara Tidwell covers Athens-area high school sports and University of Georgia athletics for The Athens Banner-Herald. Contact her at stidwell@gannett.com and follow her @saramtidwell on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Thomas Ferland on shoulder injury, missing sophomore baseball season