How PB&J and Tommy John surgery led pitcher from afterthought to ace at No. 3 Miami
Nothing was guaranteed about Brian Van Belle’s future when he was a freshman at Broward College five years ago. He didn’t have an offer from a Division I program and even most junior college programs were scared to take a chance on the 6-foot, 140-pound right-handed pitcher from Archbishop McCarthy. The Fort Lauderdale school, which competes as a junior college athletic program, was about the only one to believe in his three-pitch mix and 85-mph fastball.
And then about 15 games into his freshman season, Van Belle fired a pitch out of the bullpen and tore the ulnar collateral ligament of his elbow joint. He had Tommy John surgery a few weeks later and sat the rest of his freshman season and all of his sophomore year. His hopes to one day pitch at the highest level were derailed once again.
“I always knew that I wanted to push through,” Van Belle said. “Five years from now I don’t want to look back and say, ‘Oh, what if I didn’t go through my Tommy John process?’”
If he hadn’t, the Miami Hurricanes would at least have a different ace going into the 2020 season. On Wednesday, coach Gino DiMare tabbed the redshirt senior as his opening day starter when No. 3 Miami faces the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Friday at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field. The Hurricanes have two potential first-round picks in their starting rotation, but Van Belle, who started last season as a reliever, is the starting pitcher he is entrusting to lead a team with legitimate College World Series hopes after he went 10-2 with a 3.30 ERA, 84 strikeouts and 24 walks in 95 1/3 innings in his first season with the Hurricanes in 2019.
His unorthodox path to the Hurricanes — and success — led to him going undrafted in the 2019 MLB draft. Now Miami boasts one of the best rotations in the country. Chris McMahon is slated to start Saturdays and fellow star pitcher Slade Cecconi locked in as the Hurricanes’ Sunday starter.
“We’re very, very fortunate to have him back,” DiMare said of Van Belle. “I’m not sure we’re ranked in the top 10 in all these polls if we don’t have him back on our team.”
Bizier and the Seahawks, though, saw a great changeup, a quick arm and a mound presence they liked. And they had a solution for his 140-pound frame: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
“He was eating peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches like five times a day,” said Bizier, who now coaches Florida Southwestern State College in Fort Myers. “He was stuffing himself with food, and every time we walked out of our office he was sitting in the clubhouse just huffing food, just that look of desperation on his face like, Oh, God, I can’t believe I’m eating again.
“We told him right away, ‘You need to eat like it’s going out of style.’”
Van Belle can’t deny the effectiveness. He’s now 6-2 and listed at 187 pounds. His fastball has jumped from 85 mph when he started at Broward to 93 heading into his redshirt senior season. He’s a self-proclaimed “late bloomer,” and he was finally on track in the spring of his freshman year before another setback.
Ultimately, Van Belle’s torn ulnar collateral ligament merely slowed his development, and he now even thinks of it as a blessing. He spent 14 months off the field, learning how to better take care of his arm. He went to physical therapy three times a week and devoured books and articles about pitchers recovering from the injury.
Most importantly, he committed himself to the weight room in a way he never did while he was at Archbishop McCarthy.
“People say, ‘Oh, it makes you throw harder,’ but at the end of the day I think it’s the rehab and you build up a lot of strength that you never even had,” Van Belle said. “When you come back your arm feels good because you had 14 months to build and maintain that strength.”
Van Belle had barely returned to the mound for the Seahawks’ fall season by the time the Hurricanes were expressing interest. He took his first visit to Coral Gables in October of 2017, and it would up being his only visit. He committed to Miami on the spot.
Mostly, Van Belle is still the same pitcher he was when he arrived at Broward. He still leans primarily on his changeup and can locate his breaking ball, only he now has a fastball he can at least survive with against Atlantic Coast Conference competition.
He’s one of the best pitchers in one of the best conferences in the country, it just took him longer than usual to get there.
“A big quote I like to tell myself is: ‘Just run your race.’ Everybody has has a different journey in life. Yeah, I’m 23 years old and I’m still playing college baseball, unlike a lot of other people, but at the end of the day I’m just blessed to be here. I’m blessed to hopefully get a degree in May from the University of Miami, and I’m just blessed to be in this position and be part of this team. And all this hype going into the season, we’re just ready to put it out there.”
This and that
▪ Star shortstop Freddy Zamora and left-handed pitcher Carson Palmquist are both suspended for the start of the season for a violation of team rules. There is no timetable for their reinstatement.
▪ Josh Louck should be available for the start of the season. The infielder missed most of the fall with a knee injury.
▪ With no midweek game this week, the Hurricanes will have all pitchers available this weekend against Rutgers. A starter for Miami’s game against the Kent State Golden Flashes on Feb. 19 will be determined after the three-game series against the Scarlet Knights.
This story was originally published February 11, 2020 at 4:44 PM.
