FORT MYERS, Fla. — Sidearmer Wyatt Mills is back after almost two years of rehab and competing in the Masters Tournament.
Well, not that Masters.
The Red Sox acquired Mills, now 30, from the Royals for minor league pitcher Jacob Wallace on Dec. 16, 2022. Boston was excited about him being a weapon out of the bullpen in 2023. The righty drew comparisons to John Schreiber because of their similar arm angles and same repertoire (four-seamer, sinker, slider). One Red Sox official at that time thought he might even have better stuff than Schreiber.
But he got hurt during spring training and underwent Tommy John surgery in July 2023.
He spent the last two summers here at the JetBlue Park complex in Fort Myers recovering and rehabbing. Being here doing the same thing every day in the heat can get monotonous. So he and others down here, including rehabbing pitcher Michael Fulmer and some players on the minor league side, joined a bowling league and took part in a putt putt golf tournament to pass the time. They “made the best of it,” as Mills put it.
“We went to five or six of the different (miniature golf) places around here,” Mills said Friday here at JetBlue Park. “We had a full leaderboard and everything. I actually did a write-up memo, a weekly update on how things went to fill in the training staff and all the other players.
“We we ended it with having the Masters at PopStroke,” Mills added. “So everyone had to dress up. Played 36 holes and it was a good time.”
Mills is having a strong spring. He has allowed just one run, two hits and one walk while striking out six in four outings (4 ⅔ innings).
“I’m excited,” he said. “I was traded over here for a reason. I know what I’m capable of. And I’m just ready to be a part of a team to help them win. I know that this team is really bolstered up to be a serious problem for the league. And I just want to be a part of that. I just want to continue to take what I’ve been doing here and bottle it up and just go be myself and trust in that. And if I get a lot of chances to help this team, that’s fantastic.”
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