Decision to get Tommy John surgery blessing in disguise for former Knoch pitcher

Alex Stobert has had quite a journey through college.

The former Knoch pitcher who helped the Knights capture WPIAL and PIAA titles in 2015 — throwing 26 scoreless innings out of 27 during the PIAA postseason — has made the rounds. After playing at Tallahassee (Fla.) Community College for two years, Stobert transferred to Miami (Ohio).

Recently, Stobert committed to return south and play his final year at Division II South Carolina Aiken.

“I wanted to get back down south because I love it down here,” Stobert said. “So I was checking out some smaller schools down south, and S.C. Aiken, where my best friend (Trey Polewski, a teammate at Tallahassee) actually plays, his coach reached out, and they made a scholarship offer. So I kind of jumped all over it.”

His journey from school to school isn’t the only interesting aspect Stobert’s college career. It is also how everything came together for his final year.

This past fall, while Stobert was preparing for his final year at Miami, the 6-foot-3, 210-pounder tore his UCL during the team’s last intrasquad scrimmage.

“I was in the third inning, and it was just one fastball,” Stobert said. “It was just, boom. It popped, and I knew it was that.”

Stobert said his doctor gave him two choices: forego surgery, rehab his arm and play his final season at about 80% or get surgery and go through the yearlong rehab process.

“I was kind of in a weird spot with how old I am,” Stobert said. “So I decided I didn’t play all this time and do all this work to just kind of limp through the finish line.”

On Dec. 10, Stobert had Tommy John surgery. Over the first few months, he went through the long, slow rehab process.

But before long, Stobert was dealt a new perspective on how his college career might end when the coronavirus pandemic canceled the spring season.

“If I didn’t get the surgery, I would’ve played the 10 games, and I would’ve lost the whole year,” he said. “So it really was a blessing in disguise. I feel bad for all the seniors who it affected across the country, but it’s kind of worked out in my favor, I guess.”

Now, Stobert will get another opportunity to prove what he can do. After a rough first season at Tallahassee, Stobert started to settle in during his sophomore year.

After recording a 6.20 ERA over 45 innings his first season, Stobert bounced back the next year and produced a 2.94 ERA in 70 ¹⁄₃ innings while working as a starter on the weekends and a back-end reliever during the week.

“It took me a while to get comfortable because you couldn’t blow the fastball by anybody like you could in high school,” said Stobert, who set the Knoch record for consecutive wins (13) and most wins as a starting pitcher. “You really had to learn inside, outside, up and down. You had to learn to throw the breaking ball off your fastball. You had to bust in on guys. It was difficult at first because I didn’t truly know how to pitch.”

Stobert said he started throwing again about two weeks ago and is hoping to be back on a mound by the end of summer to be ready for fall ball in South Carolina. For now, it’s all about getting his body strong again because he still dreams of hearing his name called in the MLB Draft someday.

“That’s still the dream, and it’s been a dream for a long time,” Stobert said. “That’s why I had to get the surgery because I wasn’t ready to give it up yet.”