He wasn’t 14 months removed from Tommy John surgery, but Seranthony Domínguez was irritated last September. He wanted to be the same pitcher, the one with the electric right arm, blessed with natural cut on his high-90s fastball. Whenever anyone went near Domínguez, he talked about velocity. This journey had been so long. There had to be a reward for it. Sometimes, he would joke about getting released because the power hadn’t returned to his arm, although it wasn’t always a joke in Domínguez’s mind.
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“There was frustration,” he said. “It didn’t feel good.”
Joe Rauch, a Phillies assistant athletic trainer who had worked with Domínguez at various points in his arduous rehab process, overheard Domínguez one day near the end of last season. He looked the pitcher in the eyes and asked him to trust the training staff. Rauch was calm, but he spoke in an assertive tone: Domínguez was going to return to form. He just needed more time.
But it was hard for Domínguez to trust anyone.
“I think he was trying to make me feel better,” Domínguez said. “That’s all.”
Maybe, he concedes now, it helped. “I promise you,” Domínguez said, “I worked harder than ever this offseason. I never worked so hard.” There was something else that pushed Domínguez, even as the recovery from the initial elbow injury he suffered entered its 29th month, then 30th and 31st and 32nd. It was harder and harder to find the motivation to do the work because the process was so monotonous.
But he found it. By June, he was the Phillies’ most-trusted reliever. He hit 101 mph in Thursday’s save against the Nationals and his fastball sat at 100 mph. He has a 1.74 ERA in 31 innings. He’ll probably close more games this summer. He is dominating — maybe even more so than in 2018 when he surprised everyone.
The velocity? It came back.
“And here we are,” Domínguez said. “Fighting. Again.”
Seranthony Domínguez ranks in the 95th percentile in fastball velocity this season. (John Geliebter / USA Today)Last month, Sarahi Domínguez brought her two boys, Saímon and Sander, to Citizens Bank Park. Seranthony and Sarahi, his longtime girlfriend, got married over the winter. The wedding and Sander’s birth in January were the rare interruptions to Domínguez’s offseason routine in the Dominican Republic.
“Every day,” Domínguez said. “Every day. Every single day.”
The family lives three minutes from a field in Mao, a city northwest of Santiago. Domínguez drove there every morning for a run. He went to a nearby gym after that. Later in the day, he returned to the field for more work.
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He had reached the majors last season for one inning — three batters — in Game 162, and he touched 96 mph once. The rehab journey was supposed to end once he returned to the majors, but it was just another step. The recovery from Tommy John surgery can be isolating. He had to summon more motivation.
“It’s really hard,” Domínguez said. “It is. One-hundred-percent hard. But I have two babies now. I think that pushed me to work every morning.”
Domínguez likes to show people two photos on his phone from identical photoshoots more than a year apart. It’s Saímon and Sander, each at 1 month old, laying on a burgundy Domínguez jersey with a ball and glove next to them. “Right now, I’m not just thinking about me,” Domínguez said. “It’s a lot different. They 100 percent depend on me. You know?” Soon, they will add a new family photo — all together on the grass at Citizens Bank Park.
“I know they don’t know what they’re doing right now,” Domínguez said of his children. “But they’re still there, and that makes me feel happy. It makes me feel good. It’s something I can show them one day when they grow up. Maybe they will feel proud of me.”
Domínguez with his wife, Sarahi, son Sander (bottom left) and son Saímon. (Courtesy of Seranthony Domínguez)Domínguez delayed his Tommy John surgery in 2020 because he wanted to be at home with Sarahi while she was pregnant with Saímon. It was a difficult pregnancy, and when the world shut down that March, Domínguez was not sure if he could return to the Dominican Republic if he waited.
At the time, Domínguez understood his decision to delay surgery would have significant ramifications on his career. The longer he went without throwing, the more time he needed to have a chance to ever resemble the pitcher he once was. The Phillies knew this; they tried to have Domínguez keep it in mind during the most grueling days of rehab.
When Domínguez needed the last push, he thought about everything that had changed since his right elbow started to hurt in June 2019.
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“I have two babies,” he said. “I am trying to create a future for them. I want them to have a better future where they can do something when they get to high school or university. I want to be able to pay for everything. That’s why I think I’ve been working harder.”
Not long before he arrived in Florida for spring training this year, Domínguez threw a live batting practice session at a facility in the Dominican Republic. This was a chance for Domínguez to see the fruits of his offseason grind. He had lost almost 30 pounds by eating healthier. He was proud of the work.
“They put up a radar gun and I was touching 93,” Domínguez said. “It frustrated my mind.”
Jhoan Duran, the hard-throwing reliever for Minnesota, came to the facility and hit 99 mph. “When I threw on the same radar gun: 93, 92, 93,” Domínguez said. “I said to myself, ‘Maybe this is going to be my last year.’”
Domínguez told that to a few Phillies teammates and coaches early in spring training. They dismissed it. Then he started throwing bullpen sessions in Clearwater, Fla., and onlookers were stunned. There was nothing wrong with Domínguez.
He had no explanation for the velocity bump. “Maybe I needed to see my teammates,” he said. He joked that he is a better pitcher in the United States than in the Dominican.
He just needed time. There is still more in Domínguez’s arm; he hasn’t just gained velocity since last September, he has also been throwing harder with each month this season.
“Seranthony is one of those guys, you see him work every day,” left-hander Ranger Suárez said through a team interpreter. “His work ethic is going to take him to the next level. I have always played with him. His consistency really makes a difference here. Last year, obviously, he didn’t have the velocity that he has now because he was coming back from that injury. But we all knew that he was going to get it back.”
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The doubts Domínguez harbored were not shared in the front office. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said there was never a debate last winter about whether the Phillies should retain Domínguez on a big-league contract. The club’s internal medical projections were bullish on Domínguez’s chances because of how he finished last season — even if it wasn’t at Domínguez’s standards.
“One of the things that’s so tough,” Dombrowski said, “is patience.”
Seranthony Domínguez with catcher Jorge Alfaro during his MLB debut in May 2018. (Hunter Martin / Getty Images)The debate among those who were around Domínguez in 2018 is whether the current version is actually better. Tommy John surgery is not a guarantee; for every pitcher who returns stronger, there are dozens who never recapture that same feeling.
Domínguez discovered more than velocity during his time away from the majors.
“He’s matured a lot,” bullpen coach Dave Lundquist said. “But I think he really understands how to use all his pitches. Two years of watching people throw and watching people get other people out and you can’t do anything about it. I think he learned a lot and matured in that time. He understands what his stuff does. Before, it was a 98-99 mph fastball that sometimes cut and sometimes didn’t. Now he knows when it’s going to cut and when it’s going to sink. He’s on top of the secondary stuff. To me, it’s just a complete maturation of everything.”
For months, Domínguez questioned whether he had enough. The stuff is elite again, and with that has come a mindset fit for the late innings. “An I-don’t-give-a-shit attitude,” Lundquist said. “I’m coming at you, no matter what.” Or, as Bryce Harper said the night he broke his left thumb: “‘Ser’ is absolutely gross. I mean, really.”
The Phillies might not have wavered in bringing back Domínguez, but they did not expect this. It’s possible the increased workload after missing almost three seasons will hamper Domínguez this summer. He said he has trained his body to withstand the strain. The toughest tests are ahead.
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“I think more like a reliever now than I did before,” Domínguez said. “I know how to clear my mind and be ready for the next day.”
A little perspective, along with 99 mph, can create unbreakable confidence.
(Top photo: Mitchell Leff / Getty Images)
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