SURPRISE, Ariz. | Want the basic-version update on the effort by Royals second baseman Chris Getz to overcome the after-effects of last September’s season-ending concussion?
“I’m thinking clearly,” he said while pulling his mouth into a wry grin. “The head is fine. It’s been good for a while now. I got full clearance in mid-December and, ever since, there are really no issues at all.” There’s more, of course. Getz, 27, is now well-versed in concussions and their possible consequences after being hit in the head by a thrown ball on a steal of second base at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago. The incident, even to Getz, didn’t appear particularly troubling at the time. He soon learned differently. “You look at a lot of concussions where guys missed time,” he said, “and not many of them are, ‘Oh, wow,’ concussions. It’s usually whiplash more than a head collision. Regardless, it really has nothing to do with how hard the blow is, necessarily. “A lot of it has to do with other issues and why some people have lasting effects and some don’t. It concerns the vestibular system. That’s dealing with body awareness and balance, where you are in space, head movements and dizziness.” The medical evaluations were uniformly upbeat for Getz throughout the process, but he still endured more than a few anxious moments and sleepless nights. “Looking back, in hindsight it’s even scarier,” he said. “At the time, you’re just thinking, ‘When is this going away? It’s got to go away, right?’ It is scary because you just don’t know if it’s going to go away or what the lasting effects are going to be. “Am I going to have to deal with this forever? Is it going to end my career? But I was reassured by the doctors pretty early this was going to heal; that we just didn’t know exactly when.” That it is all now nearly forgotten is a good thing. (“The only time he thinks about it,” manager Ned Yost harrumphed, “is when some reporter brings it up.”) Getz enters this spring in his best shape in three years and fully primed to solidify what, for now, is a tentative hold on his job as the club’s starting second baseman. “I dealt with the concussion throughout the offseason,” he said, “but I wasn’t too limited in terms of my offseason weightlifting program and the conditioning stuff. That’s different from the last few seasons.” Getz entered last spring still feeling the effects of offseason surgery for a sports hernia. He then suffered a strained right oblique muscle in mid-April that forced him to the disabled list. A year earlier, as a rookie with the White Sox, it was a broken wrist that limited his offseason preparations after a breakthrough season at Class AAA Charlotte that made him one of the organization’s top prospects. “Things just haven’t gone my way,” Getz said. “You learn from it, hope to become stronger from it, and make yourself a better player because of it. I feel I’m in a good place to do that.” His challenge is simple over the next six weeks: improved offensive production. Getz batted just .237 last season with a meager .302 on-base percentage in 72 games before his concussion. He also produced only nine extra-base hits — all doubles — in 224 at-bats. “His bat never came around,” Yost said. “He has the opportunity, we think, to be a high on-base guy with gap-to-gap power as a line-drive hitter. He’s a guy who can steal some bases. “We need to see that from him because we’re pretty confident in his defense at second base.” Getz knows the Royals have scant reason to be patient. Mike Aviles can easily slide from third base into regular duty at second because Wilson Betemit and Pedro Feliz are available for the hot corner. The Royals also seem likely to convert Christian Colon, their first-round pick last season, into a second baseman if new-acquisition Alcides Escobar plays to expectations at shortstop. “I have a chance,” Getz said, “and that’s all you can ask for. You have a small window of opportunity to get opportunities to win a job. I’m ready for that. “I’m stronger. I know that I’m going to be able to do some things. I’m excited. I just need to get out there and play.”
•NO MINOR RATING: The Royals’ farm system scores the highest in Baseball America’s 22-year history. | B4
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