McAdam: Healthy again, Jonathan Lucroy ready to make his mark

For the last three seasons, Jonathan Lucroy played in pain. Agonizing pain, at times.

Lucroy prides himself in being relatively tough and durable. In a 10-year career, he's caught nearly 1,100 games and withstood foul tips, back-swings and nasty home plate collisions. Unpleasant as they are, all of those are part of the game.

But what Lucroy dealt with in recent years was far worse and more unrelenting than those occupational hazards. Lucroy had a herniated disc in his neck which resulted in nerve damage and almost constant pain.

"It felt like (having) a knife in my neck,'' said Lucroy Friday, "It was very painful. I hope no one else has to ever deal with it. I lived with it for three years, stupidly.''

Now, the way I feel, it's been a complete turnaround. I'm freed up and feel better overall. I'm grateful that I finally did it, so I can go out and compete and do what I do.''

The condition made sleep difficult, so imagine what it did to his baseball career. This past offseason, Lucroy underwent a somewhat novel procedure in which a replacement disc, made of metal, was inserted to replace the damaged one. (A similar procedure was done to the lower back of golfer Tiger Woods).

"Now, the way I feel, it's been a complete turnaround. I'm freed up and feel better overall,'' he said. "I'm grateful that I finally did it, so I can go out and compete and do what I do.''



Lucroy was one of the best hitting catchers in the game as recently as a few years back.  From 2012-2016, he posted an OPS of .795 or higher in four of those five seasons. But beginning in 2017, his output began to dip because of the neck issue.

"The biggest issue that I had was a strength issue,'' said Lucroy. "When you have a compressed or damaged nerve in your body, it inhibits the signals traveling through your neurological system and your muscles don't work as well. I did some bat speed tests before I had surgery and they were very, very low. Post-surgery, after I kind of got back into shape and healed up, they almost doubled. So within three months, it was an extremely quick turnaround in bat speed alone.

"I had strength issues in my shoulders. There were a lot of issues it caused. It's not a good thing for an athlete. Offensively, the last few years, I felt late with everything,. Late, late, late. And there was a reason why. Now, I know. I figured it out and got it taken care of, finally.''

Before undergoing surgery, Lucroy tried everything from over-the-counter pain medication to Pilates and massage. But all of those granted him only so much relief -- and only temporarily. When he finally visited a specialist in Dallas, he was informed that he was "probably playing at 50 percent capacity.''

The improvement from the surgery was swift and dramatic.

"I do feel some (regained) strength,'' he said. "I feel very, very good and I feel like I can compete at a very high level and be consistent at it.''

Already, he's realizing the benefits of the surgery. His bat speed has returned, and so has the strength in his shoulders. The ball is jumping off his bat again. Following a slow start back in March, he began to experience better at-bats in Grapefruit League play shortly before the pandemic caused the shutdown. Since Summer Camp began last week, he's picked up where he left off, producing four hits in the first two intrasquad games at Fenway. His throws from behind the plate have added oomph again.

In short, Lucroy has been born again as a player.

"I'm here trying to resurrect,'' he said, '' and see what happens. But I feel pretty good. I feel like a normal human being again.''

Exactly how Lucroy fits into the Red Sox roster has yet to be defined. Christian Vazquez is clearly the No. 1 catcher and Kevin Plawecki is on hand to serve as a backup.

Ron Roenicke, who manged Lucroy in Milwaukee and was instrumental in getting him to sign a minor league deal with the Red Sox back in February, has spoken about the possibility of Lucroy getting some playing time at first base. That will allow Roenicke to get keep Lucroy's resurgent bat in the lineup when he's not catching and provide Roenicke with another platoon option to the lefty-hitting Mitch Moreland at first.

"Any chance to play, no matter where it's at, is something I'm definitely open to,'' said Lucroy. "I want to be in the lineup because I think I can help this team win. I'll do whatever I have to do to get in the lineup. I don't care what that is. So I'm definitely open to it. I could DH, I could pinch-hit. Whatever they need me to do, I'll do. I'm not inhibited in any way.''