Fenter prepares to trim down hitters

Fenter prepares to trim down hitters

His rehab from Tommy John surgery is over and Gray Fenter is ready to return to the mound for the Baltimore Orioles organization

WM School District Gray Fenter showed up for the interview sporting his new thinly-shaped beard.

By the first of next week, the former West Memphis Blue Devil will look like Pat Boone. Fenter, the seventh-round draft choice of the Baltimore Orioles in 2015, headed out to spring training in Sarasota, Fla., this week, but the beard will have to go down the drain. The Orioles have a rule against minor leaguers with beards. Mustaches? Yes. Beards? No.

Facial hair aside, Fenter can't wait to get to Florida, and not just to get away from the cool temps and wet weather. After a trying two years in the Orioles organization, the 6-foot righthanded fireballer will have no restrictions on his development.

With his first full season as a pro imminent, Fenter heard a pop in his pitching arm and the next thing he knew he was on an operating table under the most renowned orthopedic surgeon, Dr. James Andrews.

Tommy John surgery has a high rate of recovery, but along with it comes a long and tedious rehab.

For Fenter, rehab is over.

The chains are unlocked.

He's ready to cut it loose.

'I'll have some innings limits just like everybody else in spring training, but I'm ready to with no restrictions,' said Fenter.

Last season, Fenter was held back after taking 2016 off to recover from surgery. He was told to put his wipe-out slider in his back pocket for the most part. He threw about 90 percent fastballs last season playing for Aberdeen in the Orioles Rookie League.

'I'm a lot more ready, physically, than I was at this time last year,' said Fenter. 'Last year I guess I gave (the Orioles) a hard time. I was pushing them to get them to let me go harder. At the end of the day I always did what they told me to do. Not that I had a choice. They've been at this a lot longer than I have, or ever will.'

Fenter said the first day of Orioles minor league camp isn't until March 2, but he said he's going down in a few days, 'to get used to the weather.'

Fenter said he will likely be assigned to the Orioles Class A affiliate, the Delmarva Shorebirds. But there is a strong possibility he could be promoted to Double-A Bowie by season's end.

His pitching repertoire now consists of a two-seam and four-seam fastball, slider, curve and change-up, which, in his words, is a 'work in progress.'

'It just feels great to be fully healthy now,' Fenter commented. 'I'm better off for all the work I did in rehab. Mentally, it was tough, but it helped me to mature. Physically, it also helped me work my body, the way I need to work on it.'

For now, though, Fenter is ready to dominate hitters with his hard stuff and have no restrictions.

Well, except for the shaving razor.

By Billy Woods