After a strong bullpen session, Matt Strahm’s ‘big test’ for his shoulder awaits as opening day nears

CLEARWATER, Fla. — When Matt Strahm’s left shoulder didn’t respond as well as usual after two Grapefruit League appearances for the Phillies, the veteran reliever did what came naturally.

He kept pitching.

“That was my original plan,” Strahm said Wednesday. “That’s what I tried to do. And [Dave] Dombrowski sniffed it out. He’s one of the best for a reason.”

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Wait, what? The Phillies’ president of baseball operations diagnosed a potential injury to Strahm’s arm?

“So I may have mentioned something to my agent, and my agent may have not liked that,” Strahm said. “And then he spoke with Dave, and Dave decided to play bad guy. But that’s him doing his job.”

Indeed, Strahm is too important to the Phillies’ bullpen to shrug off an achy shoulder. Dombrowski alerted the training staff. The team shut down the 33-year-old lefty from throwing and ordered an MRI, which revealed inflammation caused by pinching in the joint.

Just like that, Strahm was saved from himself.

To know Strahm is to understand that he always wants to pitch. Always. He doesn’t do anything at less than full intensity either. So, when the Phillies scheduled a “light” bullpen session Wednesday — his first since being cleared for throwing last weekend after 10 days of rest, medicine, and treatment — he wasn’t about to hold back.

And if you ask Strahm if he will be ready for opening day next Thursday in Washington, well, you know what he’s going to say.

“I joke with [the trainers] every day that if I have a heartbeat, I can play baseball,” said Strahm, whose $4.5 million club option will vest at $7.5 million if he works 60 innings this season. “As long as I have a pulse, I’m good to go. Or my other one is, if I don’t need anesthesia, I can pitch.”

OK, got it. In that case, the Phillies won’t leave it up to him, especially because MLB rules allow them to backdate a 15-day injured-list stint by as many as three days from the beginning of the season. So they could give Strahm a few extra days to get ready and bring him back after only nine games.

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But Strahm also might not need it. Manager Rob Thomson said Strahm had his “best velocity of the spring” in the bullpen and could progress to a Grapefruit League game Friday or Saturday.

Strahm did concede that the “big test” will be how his shoulder feels in the next few days.

“Because the biggest issue I was having early in spring was the recovery, the bouncing back,” Strahm said. “I wasn’t in pain throwing. I wasn’t feeling it as much as what I was feeling the next day. So I think the bigger meeting is what comes [Thursday] morning.”

If all goes well and Strahm pitches, say, Friday and Monday, would that be enough to secure his spot in the opening day bullpen?

“Even one game,” Thomson said. “If he shows that he’s good and he’s healthy and he recovers.”

The more relevant question, then, is whether Strahm can improve upon the best season of his career. Because lest anyone forget after he yielded four runs over two appearances of the Phillies’ divisional round loss to the Mets, he pitched in the All-Star Game last season, rare recognition for a noncloser.

But Strahm earned it. He gave up two earned runs on opening day, then none until June 14, a 26⅔-inning streak. At one point, he had a 30-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He finished with a 1.87 ERA, the sixth-lowest mark by a Phillies pitcher with at least 60 innings in a season in 45 years.

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What’s a reliever to do for an encore?

“I chase perfection,” Strahm said. “I know perfection is not feasible in this game, but I chase it. And that’s why I am the way I am on the mound.”

Surely you’ve seen what Strahm’s like. He jumps around the mound and screams, often at himself. He’s as animated as his hair is long.

“When I get a swing and a miss on a slider I hang, I didn’t throw the pitch I was trying to throw so I’m mad at myself for that,” he said. “You see me yell at myself after a swing-and-miss 2-0, it’s like, I’m mad at the execution. But I’m so locked into the execution that’s all I worry about.”

That, and when he will pitch again. Even when he probably shouldn’t.