Chase Utley has healthy attitude that knee trouble is behind him
CLEARWATER, Fla. - Chase Utley doesn't own a Twitter handle and opened up a Facebook account only at the urging of his agent.
While he's easily one of the leaders in the Phillies clubhouse, he's not the rah-rah guy who motivates through the media. In short: Utley isn't one to waste words and when he speaks, people listen.
In December, while Phillies manager Charlie Manuel was getting ready for holiday season, his cellphone buzzed, and when he saw who was on the other end, he came to attention. It was a text from Utley.
"It said, 'If you'll be a good boy, you might get a healthy second baseman. Santa might bring you a hell of a second baseman,' " Manuel recalled on Friday. "Chase usually doesn't say much. That told me quite a bit."
Utley is ready to make good on his word.
Utley, who has been in camp all week, took batting practice and infield work with fellow veteran infielders Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and Michael Young on Friday, the day before the first official full-squad workout at the Carpenter Complex. After dealing with chronic knee pain in each of the last two springs, Utley also expects on being in the lineup when the Grapefruit League exhibition season begins in a week, on Feb. 23, against the Houston Astros at Bright House Field.
"I plan to, yes," Utley said of his availability.
Utley hasn't played in a spring-training game since 2010.
After also missing the first 7 weeks of the 2011 season while battling knee pain, Utley missed even more time in 2012. Utley, now 34, get into a major league game for the first time last season until June 27.
Utley homered in his first at-bat that night and went on to play in 83 of the final 86 games. He started in 81 games.
But the damage had already been done. Less than a week after Utley's return, the Phillies were 12 games out of first place, 10 games under .500 and in last place in the National League East.
The Phils, of course, were also without Ryan Howard for the first 3 months of the season and had also lost Roy Halladay to injury in late May. If the Phillies hope to bounce back from an 81-81 season to compete in the NL East this season, Manuel said, they'd need at least 140 games each from Utley and Howard.
But is that even possible for Utley, who hasn't played more than 115 games in a season since 2009?
"I think so - I've done it before," Utley said. "Obviously, the last couple of years haven't been ideal. But this is a new year and a new squad, new guys and . . . I'm looking forward to it."
If that sounds similar, that's because it probably is. Utley was similarly optimistic a year ago, after his first season dealing with chronic knee pain.
But not along after workouts began last spring, Utley felt the pain return and it kept him sidelined for even longer than the previous year. After not playing until the 47th game of the season in 2011, Utley wasn't in the Phillies lineup until game No. 77 in 2012.
But the difference between 2011 and 2012, besides the number of games missed, was that Utley also gained a better understanding of how to handle the injury. He began working with a physical therapist named Brett Fischer in Phoenix last March to devise a workout routine and, when the season ended, he went in a different direction with his offseason program.
Rather than take a break from baseball activities to lessen the work on his legs, Utley continued to take ground balls and batting practice. Utley, who makes his offseason home in San Francisco, worked out with the University of San Francisco baseball coaches this winter.
"They hit me ground balls and threw me batting practice daily, and I really appreciated that," Utley said.
Utley increased the work as the winter progressed, but never spent fewer than 2 days a week at USF's facilities. In never actually taking a break from baseball, Utley said he's in better shape to take the field this spring and feel confident he can stay there, too.
"I think I trained a little more differently," Utley said of the difference of dealing with the same injury over the last two offseasons. "I trained to play baseball. Not just to take pressure off my knees. So it's worked. It's given me strength in my legs, which I can already feel a difference taking ground balls, swinging the bat. There is something there, where in the last few years there hasn't been."
Whether that strength stays there for next week, when the Phillies begin playing games, and in 2 months, when they begin playing in games that matter, isn't something anyone can answer without a crystal ball. Sometime in the next few days, Utley is expected to meet with Manuel and general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. to devise a plan for how best to move forward this spring, so Utley can stay active but also not overdo anything in Clearwater, too.
But in 2 months, Utley is confident the track he began when he returned last summer, when he learned to manage through his knee issues and remain on the field, can continue into the 2013 season.
The coming season also might be the final one Utley spends in Philadelphia. Although he recently said he couldn't imagine wearing any other uniform, Utley is entering the final season of a 7-year, $85 million contract.
Despite his recent injury woes, Utley isn't thinking it's the beginning of the end of his career either.
"I feel I still have a lot to do in this game," Utley said.
In 2013, it begins with trying to stay healthy for the first time in 3 years in Clearwater.
Email: rlawrence@phillynews.com
" @ryanlawrence21
