CBC product Orvella on comeback trail with Tampa Bay

Chad Orvella got a front row seat at the Tampa Bay Rays' run to the 2008 World Series.

It wasn't the way he wanted to see it, though.

"I had rotator cuff surgery right after spring training last year, on May 23," he said in a recent phone interview. "There was a lot of wear and tear. One game it just started aching more."

Suddenly, Orvella went from being a viable part of the Rays' bullpen in 2005 and 2006 (and lesser so in 2007) to sidelined.

Orvella grew up in Renton and played shortstop and pitched for Columbia Basin College.

From CBC, he went to North Carolina State.

And Tampa Bay drafted him in 2003.

"(Former CBC coach) Scott Rogers, I talk to him a couple times a year," Orvella said. "It's a disciplined program that's a lot different from high school. In (junior college) I thought if the shortstop thing didn't work out, I thought the pitching thing would."

And it did, as Orvella made the big club in 2005. And then last year happened.

"I rehabbed pretty much all year," he said. "But I feel pretty good now."

He's been with the Rays' Triple-A franchise in Durham, N.C., where in 18 appearances, he has pitched 31 innings, striking out 23 with an ERA of 6.32.

"A lot of times I pitch two innings," he said.

The worst thing about his baseball life is still being in Triple-A. Life in the International League means bus trips.

In the other Triple-A league, the Pacific Coast League, teams are so spread out they have to fly to games.

"I want to be in the big leagues. I had that taste," he said. "I was lucky enough last year to be with the Rays because I was injured."

That was a different Rays team, though.

"When I first got drafted it was a great organization to start with," Orvella admits. "If you pitched well, you can make it up the ladder quick. But now even their minor league system is deep. You have to think of it as you're pitching not just for the Rays, but for the other 29 major league teams."

And maybe one of those teams might want him.

"Still," he says. "the best thing is being able to play. A lot of people still wish they were playing. Every day I do something I want to do. And I'm still striving to get back to the big leagues."

Notes

Pasco's Jeremy Bonderman, on the comeback from surgery to correct a condition that restricts blood flow to the shoulder, pitched eight scoreless innings Sunday night for Triple-A Toledo against Charlotte.

It was his third rehab start, striking out five while scattering six hits. The Tigers can keep him at Toledo until June 15, when his 30-day rehab assignment ends.

The Herald will take a periodic look at Mid-Columbians' lives in professional baseball this season.