Six months after the fight of his life, Joe Palumbo fights for job with Texas Rangers
The ulcerative colitis flare-up that kept Joe Palumbo from pitching for the Texas Rangers after July clearly was a significant issue.
But reporters weren’t aware of how severe it was until Saturday.
The left-hander said that he spent four days in the hospital in August and lost nearly 35 pounds from the start of spring training because of the inflammatory bowel disease.
The good news, which isn’t great news, is that the Rangers have experience with ulcerative colitis. The best news is that Palumbo said he has the disease under control and rebuilt his strength for spring training.
In addition to the weight loss, he didn’t throw a ball for some two months.
“It was a slow progression, but it eventually got to the point where it was extremely serious and my quality of life was not the best,” Palumbo said. “It was nothing with my diet. It was the medication that I was on, it literally failed me. It just stopped working, and there was nothing I could do to prevent it.”
Palumbo said he was diagnosed with UC in 2016 and had never had an issue like the one he had last summer. The issues started in spring training, but never got to the point where he couldn’t pitch and work out.
The low point was a four-day hospital stint after he ran out of answers and could no longer even make it to Globe Life Field. He was already on the injured list and never left it.
He worked with team dietitian Stephanie Fernandes, who had experience with UC after working with right-hander Kyle Gibson and former Rangers left-hander Jake Diekman.
Palumbo’s weight has bounced back from 165 to 185 thanks to a new medication, and his arm is healthy. The Rangers aren’t sure how many innings he can throw this season or if he will be limited to working as a reliever.
“He didn’t pitch last year, basically,” Rangers manager Chris Woodward said. “I think that’s the biggest thing for us. As far as building him up, he’s pretty much on the same pace as everybody else is. We may limit how quickly he ramps up, but he’s a full-go right now.”
