On the comeback trail

After an arm injury jeopardized his career in baseball, Juan Berumen hit rock bottom before retuning to the mound stronger than ever.


On the comeback trail

Juan Berumen, an Orange resident and former player at Villa Park High, is having a great comeback season as a Hornet.

Juan Berumen, by the numbers

Height/Weight: 6-foot/185 pounds

Throws/Hits: Right/Right

Starts: 8

Win/loss record: 2-2

Complete games: 2

Innings pitched: 46.1

Strikeouts: 35

Earned run average: 2.33 (12 earned runs)

Juan Berumen had to hit rock bottom before he could truly appreciate what he once had.

In 2011, his second year at Fullerton College, the 6-foot right-hander sustained a second-degree sprain of the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow.

Though the ligament wasn't torn, it was hazardously stretched and equally destructive.

"I wasn't throwing a lot of innings my first year at Fullerton," said Berumen, who grew up in and lives in Orange. "I came in, out of high school, with a lot of testosterone going, just wanting to play baseball.

"So, I'd play a lot of long toss without ever really warming up. You only have so many bullets in your arm, and I overused it."

A couple more throws, doctors said, and he would've had to undergo surgery.

"It got to the point where I was throwing and thought, 'This isn't right,'" said Berumen, who pitched at Villa Park High his first two years of high school. "I'm not the type of person to complain about pain, but it was so bad that I couldn't tolerate it anymore.

"I couldn't even lift my arm. There were times where I'd wake up in the morning, in agony, and my arm was completely dead."

Berumen wasn't allowed to throw a baseball for four months as part of his six-month, three-day-a-week stint at Impact Rehabilitation Center in Orange.

"Having something taken away from you that you love so much, not being able to do anything, I hit rock bottom," he said. "I had to find and master a new mental approach to the game.

"That's when my love for baseball grew. I was hungrier because I wasn't able to play for so long."

Armed with a rehabbed elbow and a refined mental approach, Berumen returned to the mound this spring, and has exceeded tempered expectations.

"I like being an underdog," he said.

On Feb. 19, in a 5-4 victory over Long Beach City, the redshirt sophomore threw seven-innings of four-hit ball. Two weeks later, he twirled a complete game in a four-hitter against Irvine Valley.

"I'm grateful that I'm able to pick up a baseball and throw again," said Berumen, who has struck out 35 this season. "I'm beyond excited to be playing for Fullerton because we're not playing against teams; we're just playing the game.

More from Orange-Villa Park


Join the conversation

Comments are encouraged, but you must follow our User Agreement
