Kyle Gibson tracking for opening week, and he credited this Texas Rangers specialist
Kyle Gibson feels good, really good, so good that he expects to be ready to pitch to start the season after dealing with ulcertative colitis last year.
Gibson, who signed to a three-year, $28-million deal with the Rangers in December, said that he is a month ahead of where he was last season after he dealt with e coli and the first symptoms of the irritable bowel disease.
“Everybody, since I showed up, has been pleasantly surprised how the medicine has been working and how I have been feeling,” Gibson said Thursday. “I have been able to work out consistently for a while now. I’m not too worried about being ready. Barring some non-stomach injury, I don’t think the beginning the season is out of the question at all.”
Gibson showered praise on Stephanie Fernandes, the Rangers’ team dietitian and sports nutritionist, for easing his transition from the Minnesota Twins. Gibson said she met with his doctors to formulate the right plan and find the right balance of medicine.
Fernandes said Gibson is moving closer to a maintenance program rather than a full-on treatment phase.
“With ulcertive colitis and Crohn’s, it’s really about getting with the physician and getting you on the right medicine regiment because that’s where a lot of the work is doing to get done,” Fernandes said.
“Then we’re just using nutrition as a tool to make sure we’re not making things for him feel worse and we’re trying to get him, once he gets to remission, to, ‘How to we maintain weight? How do we make sure that we’re hitting all his nutritional needs?’”
Pitching wasn’t easy last season for Gibson, who admitted that he probably shouldn’t have pitched from mid-June on even though the only time he was symptom-free was on the mound.
He spent time on the injured list to help put his arms around the colitis once his sleep quality diminished. He lost 25 pounds during the season.
Fernandes said that she gained experience having dealt with Jake Diekman and two other players in the organization who have ulcerative colitis. Every case is different, though, but she dug into Gibson’s case and was one of the reasons he signed with the Rangers.
“I told my wife the night we made the decision, ‘If I don’t feel good and if I don’t feel healthy wherever we sign, I’m going to be miserable whatever we at,’” Gibson said.
“We were really comfortable with Stephanie and her approach and her willingness to talk to the dietitian, with the doctor I was seeing. She was sharp and really knew what she was doing. It was a big driver in being healthy and where I was going.”
