Dylan Ross ‘Just Enjoying the Ride’ After Recovering From Two UCL Surgeries

Dylan Ross stood from the mound at BayCare Ballpark. He’d just gotten Carter Mathison to stare at a 96 mph fastball in the zone for strike three. It had finished off a perfect inning, one in which he’d struck out the side for the St. Lucie Mets.

It was Sept. 7, 2024. For Ross, it was his first game action in over two and a half years.

He stopped, then turned to look out at the scoreboard.

He realized, silently to himself, “I just played professional baseball,” he said. “I was like, ‘Oh, cool. Now let’s get into it.'”

When Ross departed the field, his parents were waiting for him. His mom told him that his dad wouldn’t admit it, but he had been crying for about an inning.

The previous time Ross had pitched in a game, he was a college junior making just his second appearance for the University of Georgia. Through two UCL surgeries, with a draft selection by the New York Mets in between, Ross found his way back to the field.

And now he can’t be stopped.

Less than a year after that long-awaited debut, Ross has already worked his way up to Triple-A Syracuse.

“I’ve gotta have the outlook of ‘It’s just another day,'” Ross said. “You kind of prepare yourself through rehab the whole time of, like, ‘I guess it’s just the best outcome it possibly could have been, coming off that situation.'”

Gaining Velocity

Ross is armed with an electric fastball that sits in the mid-90s and has topped out at 102 mph. He complements it with a splitter in the high 80s to low 90s, along with a slider and a curveball.

Ross always threw hard as a kid, he recalled. While playing travel ball, he’d warm up by playing long toss from foul pole to foul pole, “just for the fun of it.” His dad, he said, joked that people could tell back then that he would end up throwing hard.

Ross also felt he had the physical size for velocity. Nowadays, at age 24, he’s listed at 6-foot-5 and 251 pounds.

Even before he was hitting triple digits, he still threw harder than most kids around him. The key to unlocking everything he had in him was cleaning up his mechanical deficiencies.

In high school, at Georgia Premier Academy, he topped out in the low 90s. He was teammates with Daniel Espino, a former first-round pick who hit 100 when he was only 18.

“It just didn’t feel as if my 90-92 was even hard,” Ross said. “And then, as I built up, I think that kind of watered down what 100 really was, because I was around it every single day with [Espino].”

When Ross got to Eastern Kentucky University in 2020, he had an uptick in velocity. He started sitting 91-93 while occasionally reaching the mid-90s. Not only did his mechanical changes help him throw harder, but they also brought less stress on his lower back.

“I used to land very closed and long,” Ross said. “I’d always say I was like lawn-chairing myself with how closed off I was, trying to get extension. So it was almost as if I was bending my back.”

Ross already had his splitter back then, too. He said it’s always been his most reliable pitch. He adjusts the grip and throws it with exactly the same motion as his fastball.

“It’s like the one pitch where it’s never not on,” Ross said.

The COVID-19 times limited him to four innings for Eastern Kentucky in 2020. He went back home to Statesboro, Georgia, where he threw live at-bats and simulated his season at his old high school.

Ross transferred to Northwest Florida State College, a JUCO where he had the chance to get a lot of work in a relatively low-stress environment. He made 12 appearances in 2021, all starts, and posted a 3.88 ERA over 60 1/3 innings. He averaged 11.49 strikeouts per nine innings.

It was this year, in his second collegiate season, when he first hit 100 and started getting noticed on draft boards. The ingredients were there for Ross to be a high-round pick and ascend quickly.

The UCL Tear

Ross’s power arm led him to the University of Georgia in the SEC. A big year there could have propelled him to the top few rounds of the draft.

His debut for the Bulldogs was a success. Five innings, one run, six strikeouts. So far, so good.

Then, on March 1, 2022, he made his second start.

He recalled that he’d already been dealing with some discomfort over the prior couple of weeks. But he, nor the staff, could quite figure out what it was.

The pain intensified before his outing.

“Long tossing, it felt good,” Ross said. “Coming back in, absolute shambles.”

Ross allowed a run-scoring triple against Wofford College in the first inning of that game. He walked back-to-back hitters, then was able to strand the bases loaded.

When he came back out for the second inning, one of his warmup throws went to the backstop.

“The catcher was like, ‘You good?'” Ross recalled. “I was like, ‘Just give me the ball.'”

His next warmup pitch sailed even higher to the backstop.

“It’s done for,” he thought.

He was pulled before he got a chance to start the inning.

“It was almost like the thing you see on videos of guys blowing out,” Ross said. “It’s just the weird realization of, like, ‘It’s gone.’ And then I was kind of in disbelief.”

Ross knew he needed to get it checked out. He soon found out he’d be facing every pitcher’s worst nightmare: undergoing Tommy John surgery.

But it didn’t faze him the way it might for others.

“It was weirdly a relief,” Ross said. “Obviously, still heartbreaking… It was not something anybody ever wants to hear. But a week and a half later, I had surgery. It’s never strayed my faith and my belief of what I’m meant to do.”

His cousin and Georgia teammate Will Childers, around that same time, was rehabbing his own Tommy John surgery. Childers re-tore his UCL in his first outing back, shortly after Ross underwent surgery.

“And so it’s like, well, what could I really be upset about?” Ross said. “Like, what’s it gonna help me to pitter-patter around and moan and complain about it?”

Ross’s season for Georgia was short-lived. But he still hung around the team every day. He built a camaraderie with his teammates and got to just be a college student.

“It just changed my perspective on baseball a little bit,” he said. “Especially going from three schools, I was never around the same guys for more than a year. So [the injury] allowed me more time to build those relationships outside of baseball.”

Ross credited Georgia’s staff for helping him through the early months of his rehab. But as the season went on, more of Georgia’s pitchers went down with injuries. They went a moderate 15-15 in SEC play and saw their season end in the NCAA regionals.

“Heartbreaking” is how Ross described it. “A little bit of guilt of, like, ‘Dadgummit, I could have been healthy and helped out some.’ But everything’s meant to be how it is.”

Joining the Mets

Being sidelined changed Ross’s mindset going into the draft from what it had been. He knew that if he was drafted, he would just be going through the same rehab processes in a different place, though perhaps with more high-tech resources. Whether he would continue his rehab with Georgia or with his new professional team, he was okay with either scenario.

“Just the optimistic realist in me,” he said.

Ross’s injury also changed the focus of his pre-draft conversations. He mainly wanted to know about his potential organization’s medical staff, what their rehab philosophy was and their overall history of rehabbing pitchers.

“With the Mets, it was a lot better fit than I could ever imagine,” Ross said.

He’d already had a relationship with the Mets’ staff, who took him in the 13th round in the summer of 2022.

Ross continued his rehab with the Mets, as planned. But after about a year of things going according to schedule, another massive setback befell him.

He needed another surgery on his UCL. It wasn’t Tommy John, but it was still a revision surgery that would sideline him for another year.

But he stayed with the mindset of resilience that had gotten him this far. He already felt comfortable working with the Mets, and now he just had to keep at his routine for a little bit longer.

“I don’t want condolences,” Ross said. “I want to go to the next steps, the improvements to be made.”

Preventing another setback was an obvious, but nonetheless important, priority of Ross’s rehab. He learned to dial it back when he needed to,and to only work as hard as was necessary on a given day.

“I think we were able to hone in on a couple things during the first process that I guess I got a little jumpy on, whether it’s throwing a little bit too hard or pushing myself a little bit too much,” Ross said. “I guess I didn’t fully hone in on the rest aspect of taking your light days light… Just protect me from myself.”

Finding Immediate Success Upon His Return

Ross’s return to the field quite literally couldn’t have gone much better. Six days after turning 24 years old, in his first real outing since he was 21, he struck out all three batters he faced for the Single-A St. Lucie Mets.

It was a giant weight off his shoulders. But he didn’t get there by focusing on the final outcome. His journey required a remarkable amount of patience to focus on one thing at a time and not get ahead of himself. It took more than two and a half years, but the determination paid off.

After getting some Arizona Fall League experience, Ross started this season on a talented High-A Brooklyn club. He struck out 23 in 11 2/3 innings, with just two earned runs allowed. It earned him a quick promotion to Double-A Binghamton.

Part of what allowed him to make such a smooth comeback was the mental situations he’d been putting himself in during live at-bats.

“What headspace are you in? Who are you mentally facing?” Ross said of his mindset during rehab.

Ross also had the understanding that there would be occasional bad outings. He knew ahead of time that he would need to give himself some grace and try to learn from his shortcomings.

After five straight scoreless outings to start his Double-A career, he gave up three runs over 1 1/3 innings on June 1. He allowed two runs (one earned) in his next outing.

But he struck out 18 over 10 1/3 Double-A innings, with only three walks issued. His ERA in that span was 4.35. The Mets saw enough to promote him to Triple-A on June 17.

“I think there’s a lot of things that you learn going through those levels. But I think, ultimately, it’s just taking care of business, taking care of your stuff,” Ross said. “I think they’ve pushed me, but they’re not gonna push somebody if they don’t think they’re ready. So I guess, for me to sit here and think I’m not ready, is just kind of going against the powers that be.”

Ross has kept rolling in the hitter-friendly International League. In 9 2/3 innings, he’s struck out 14 and allowed three runs (two earned).

His ERA over 31 2/3 minor league innings this season, across three levels, is 2.56. He has 55 strikeouts, good for a 15.6 K/9.

In addition to topping out in triple digits, Ross said he’s felt comfortable throwing his splitter in any count. He has a fairly new grip on his slider, which has evolved and become a more confident offering for Ross. He noted that he’s gotten especially better at throwing backdoor sliders, using it to get swings and misses.

After starting throughout college, he’s still adjusting to being a reliever. In his shorter outings, he hasn’t had room to use his curveball very much. Pitching just an inning or two in each outing has altered his plan of attack when he goes out there.

“It’s been a fun time. A lot of learning,” Ross said. “With relieving, I guess it’s less cerebral at times, of working the guy this way, this time through; changing it up second time through, third time through — things of that nature. So relieving is just, go out there and put your best up against theirs and go see what happens.”

One benefit he gained from rehab was getting to meet players from a variety of levels, all the way from Single-A to the big leagues. Despite playing for three different teams already this year, he’s recognized guys every step of the way. And the relationships he’s built have helped him flourish.

“It’s been a joy,” Ross said.

With Ross all of a sudden flooded by success, his mentality hasn’t changed from when he was on the long-term sideline. Despite now being just one step from the big leagues, he’s not thinking too hard about the future.

He’s just going to try to keep getting better. If it gets him to Queens, then so be it. It’s already gotten him this far.

“I thank nobody but God just to be in the position that I’m in now,” he said. “I could never imagine the ride that I’ve been on now. So I just try to make sure not to look too far ahead and try to determine what it’s supposed to look like. I just try to stay grounded and do what I’m doing now.

“I guess it’s as simple as that. Just enjoying the ride.”

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