SAN DIEGO ---- Chris Young won't begin a rehab throwing program until Friday but already he's seeing the benefits of his arthroscopic shoulder surgery.
In working with the Padres' training staff at Petco Park to rehabilitate his right shoulder, Young said he isn't experiencing any of the pain that preceded what doctors have told him was a "very minor cleanup" of his throwing shoulder in August.
"I'm doing towel drills right now and different exercises and I'm pretty encouraged," Young said. "The stuff that gave me pain before the surgery, there' s nothing there now, so I'm extremely encouraged. The same movements I'm doing now I couldn't even come close to before the surgery. I'm very excited about where it is and hopefully it continues to progress and be healthy and strong."
Young said he was pain-free at the beginning of the 2009 season ---- he was 4-6 with a 5.21 ERA in 14 starts ---- but started developing tendinitis during a four-start stretch in late May and June. The Padres opted to shut Young down on June 14 in Anaheim after he issued five walks in 2 1/ 3 innings and lost to the Angels. Five days before that, Young allowed a career-high four home runs at the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The 6-foot-10 pitcher underwent a battery of tests over the next several weeks but couldn't shake the pain and opted for surgery two months later.
When he has been on the mound, Young has been one of the Padres' most consistent starting pitchers since coming over in a January 2006 trade from the Texas Rangers along with Adrian Gonzalez. He is 31-25 with a 3.70 ERA in 93 starts in a Padres uniform, and in October 2006 he notched the team's only postseason victory since Sterling Hitchcock picked up the win in Game 6 of the 1998 National League Championship Series.
Young has been limited to making 32 starts the past two seasons, including only 18 in 2008 after he was struck in the head by a line drive. With a number of young starting pitchers vying for jobs in 2010, several Padres sources said the team desperately could use Young's veteran presence atop the starting rotation. The 30-year-old will earn $6.5 million in 2010 and the Padres hold an $8.5 million option for 2011.
In October, Young said he wasn't worried about missing the season's final 3 1/ 2 months.
"I've done this long enough that it'll come back to me," Young said.
Young said this week's activities are "baby steps" toward beginning his full throwing program for 2010. He said he hopes that the seven-to-eight week head start over his normal routine "will give me a leg up come spring training and April."
