A concussion limited him in 2019. Wallach ready to prove his worth to Marlins again
Chad Wallach is back in his element.
Behind home plate. Staring pitchers in the eye. Working bullpen sessions.
Playing baseball.
“I missed it,” Wallach said. “I felt like I haven’t played in a year.”
Eight-and-a-half months have passed since Wallach sustained a concussion in late May with symptoms that wouldn’t seem to disappear. Three times the Miami Marlins tried to send him to rehab assignments.
But blurry vision here or a headache there put a halt to it all. It wasn’t until mid-November — nearly six weeks after the regular-season ended and six months after the Marlins initially put him on the injured list for the concussion — that he felt symptom free.
He’s trying to put that in past now. Spring training is here, and Wallach wants to make the most of his opportunity.
“It was frustrating,” Wallach said. “I couldn’t really put a pin in what it actually was, what was giving me problems. We’ve got it under control now. It’s just maintenance at this point to keep it right.”
The injury came as Wallach, 28, was in the midst of a decent start to the 2019 season as the Marlins’ backup catcher. He had hits in seven of the 12 games he played in and at one point caught 25 consecutive innings while Jorge Alfaro dealt with a minor injury.
“It’s good to see Chad back and healthy,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “Chad was actually swinging the bat well last year. He was looking good and really that thing just kept extending and extending. I’m sure it was extremely frustrating for him. You don’t put a timetable on those things because you don’t know what it’s going to take. It just takes what it takes. He’s had a long road with the vision and a lot of other things to combat it, but the fact that he’s healthy and ready to go is a good sign.”
Wallach, a fifth-round pick by the Marlins in the 2013 MLB Draft, made the Opening Day roster each of the last two years but now faces still competition to crack the 26-man roster when the Marlins open the season on March 26 against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Alfaro looks to be the team’s everyday catcher after playing in 130 games last season. The Marlins also signed veteran Francisco Cervelli to a one-year deal this offseason.
“Alfaro’s extremely athletic, capable of doing a lot of things,” Mattingly said. “Francisco has the experience and has shown that he’s done it. And we like what Chad brings to the table. He’s just over the last couple of years been banged up. We know what we’ve got there and we have three guys that are capable of handling the position.”
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