The Improbable Story of Peter Moylan Takes a New Turn

When I last blogged about Peter Michael Moylan, I thought his career was over. It was a year ago last April, he was 30 years old, and there was a nasty bone spur in his ulnar collateral ligament. He was transferred to the 60 day DL and scheduled for Tommy John surgery.

His trip to the majors though was totally improbable to begin with. He drew the attention of major league scouts in the World Baseball Classic in 2006, when he was already way past his prime, at 28 years old. He had been pitching for the Australian team and entered a game with a blazing 98 mile per hour fastball. He proceeded to strike out Bobby Abreu, Ramon Hernandez, and Magglio Ordonez.

Who was this sidearm guy, everyone wanted to know?

Ten years before, in 1997, when he was 21, he had tried out for the Major Leagues. But he failed to find a team to sign him. So like many whose dreams were not fulfilled, he returned to Australia and his family, and took a full time job with a modest salary as a pharmaceutical salesman. For nine years.

With the advent of the World Baseball Classic, a decade later, he gave baseball another shot, and made the Australian team, not expecting to do too much more other than showcase his talents for his country. But he so impressed the scouts that he was given a chance by the Braves, invited to jump from the WBC tourney to the Braves spring training squad in 2006. They signed him.

He toiled for a year in the Braves minor league system, with a couple of cups of coffee in 2006, up and down with the team. Then in 2007 he hooked on permanently, pitching so dominantly he won a few ballot nominations for Rookie of the Year. He finished the season with a 5-3 record with a 1.80 ERA. He won his first major league game at the age of 29 in April of 2007 in Miami against the Marlins.

After getting hurt last year, he wondered whether his ‘dream ride’ was over, and whether he could come back and ever pitch again. Tonite, in the cold of Philadelphia, after a year of rehab, and maintaining the belief that modern medicine could bring him back, Peter Moylan is in a major league uniform again.

If you watched tonite's game, Moylan was in the bullpen warming up in the 8th inning. His improbable dream has come full circle once again, and a guy who could have been selling you Advil was instead tossing 95 mph pills in the bullpen.