Summer finally arrives for Rainbow baseball team

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

Some 19 months since he had Tommy John surgery, pitcher Colby Summer will take the mound for the University of Hawai'i baseball team. The 6-foot-8 right-hander will make his Division I debut in this week's season-opening series against Alabama.

The Hawai'i pitching staff includes, from left, Myles Ioane, Colby Summer, Stephen Bryant, Ricky Bauer, Steven Wright and Justin Costi. Bauer, Bryant and Summer are expected to be starters. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

For the past two years, Summer has been unable to pitch for the Rainbows since transferring from Mount Hood JC in Gresham, Ore. He learned in March 2003 that he needed the dreaded surgery, which takes at least a year to recuperate. Three months later, Dr. Lewis Yocum, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim medical director, performed the surgery named for the pitcher who was the first to have the procedure.

According to the Professional Team Physicians' Web site, John tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his left (throwing) elbow during the summer of 1974. Dr. Frank Jobe transplanted a tendon from John's right wrist to his left elbow. John was back pitching 18 months later. It isn't just the procedure that fixes the problem. Extensive rehabilitation is involved. Summer, who is from Portland, Ore., worked with the trainers of the Portland Trail Blazers following the surgery.

Rainbows left-hander Mark Rodrigues and right-hander Keahi Rawlins have each since had the procedure and are out for the season.

Summer was able to soft-toss about six months after the surgery. After the end of last season, he threw off a mound for the first time since the surgery. A few weeks later, he pitched competitively for the first time for the Aloha (Ore.) Knights' summer league team, which went on to win the National Baseball Congress World Series. Summer went 2-0 with a 2.93 earned run average. In 28á innings, he struck out 17 against nine walks. He made two starts of his 13 appearances. His longest outing, he said, was six innings.

"I'm not worried about my elbow," Summer said. "I'm completely over it, mentally."

The hardest part wasn't the surgery or the rehabilitation. It was the wait.

"It was definitely the hardest thing for me do," he said. "I was never a patient person. I had to learn how to be patient."

He bided his time last season by serving as sort of a "bullpen coach" for the Rainbows. Whenever a pitcher was sent to warm, Summer usually followed him to the bullpen to relay instruction from coach Mike Trapasso.

What has happened since the surgery is Summer has developed a change to complement his fastball, which is consistently in the high-80s mph range.

"The change was easy on my arm," Summer said. "I practiced it more and developed it over the summer. It became my bread and butter."

Trapasso is pleased with that development.

"He's shown good command," Trapasso said. "His changeup's been very good. He was just a good fastball-slider kind of guy, but he's really got a good change. It may be his best pitch. The main thing with Colby and the rest of our guys is it's always about fastball command. You have the fastball command, you're going to have a chance to win."

Meanwhile, Summer, a junior in eligibility, said this is likely his last season, even though he was granted a redshirt for one missed season and a medical hardship for another. He was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 38th round out of Mountain View High in Bend, Ore., in 2000; he was drafted again last year by the Boston Red Sox in the 38th round. The Red Sox followed his progress through the NBC World Series, but Summer opted to return. After this semester he will need just one class to graduate, so Summer said he will sign if drafted again or, as technically a fifth-year college player, sign as a nondrafted free agent.

Although things could change between now and the series opener on Thursday, Summer is being pegged as the third starter behind Ricky Bauer (8-4, 3.60 ERA) and Stephen Bryant (8-4, 3.52).

"I don't want to put a lot of pressure on Colby; he's yet to throw a pitch at the Division I level," Trapasso said. "But our expectation is that he's going to give us everything that we've hoped for. He's exciting to watch because he gives you that size and power."

Bauer and Bryant, senior right-handers, are preseason all-league candidates. Bauer was named by WAC coaches as the preseason conference pitcher of the year. Bauer was 7-2 with a 2.60 ERA for the Madison (Wis.) Mallards of the Northwoods League last summer, pitching 65á innings. Because of the additional work, Bauer said UH coaches rested him during fall workouts.

Because the Rainbows start the season with three four-game series and jump into five consecutive days in the Rainbow Tournament, they will need a fourth starting pitcher in that span. Junior college transfer Justin Costi has emerged to that spot. He was 8-4 with a 3.11 ERA in his conference. But freshman left-hander Myles Ioane, an Advertiser all-state selection out of Waiakea, has shown promise.

"Myles has been a little tender, so we backed him off," Trapasso said. "We don't want to rush freshmen anyway and the idea of throwing a freshman to the wolves right out of the gate is something I've never been comfortable with. It wouldn't surprise me to see Myles in the rotation (by the WAC season). He's that kind of a talent. He's going to be huge. He's going to be outstanding. He might have the most potential on our staff of pitching in the big leagues."

Sophomore Darrell Fisher-baugh has established himself as the closer with Guy McDowell and Rich Olsen available in critical situations as well. All are right-handers.

Others expected to get work are sophomore Steven Wright and JC transfers Larry Ellenbrook, Dean Turner and Kyle Thomas, a left-hander.

"Kyle Thomas has the ability to come in and be electric with stuff, particularly with his curveball and he's left-handed, which is something we don't have a lot of," Trapasso said. "But he needs to work on command before he can come into tight games."

Notes

Freshman pitcher Ronnie Loeffler (Waiakea) and sophomore pitcher Kaimi Mead, as well as first basemen Jonathan Combs, Brad Wark, both JC transfers, and freshman Steven Bralver, will redshirt, Trapasso said.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8042.