In the first six games of the Midwest Collegiate League season, Northwest Indiana Oilmen catcher Hunter Thorn didn’t have a hit.
That’s largely due to the intense pain Thorn felt in his left wrist every time the 2016 Portage graduate — who now plays for Purdue Northwest — swung a bat.
“It didn’t feel right at all,” Thorn said. “I thought I’d just sprained it, so I kept playing.”
But as that pain went away, so did Thorn’s slump.
He’s now riding a six-game hitting streak that’s coincided with a franchise-best eight-game winning streak for the Oilmen (12-8). It has allowed Thorn and his teammates to erase their slow starts this summer.
The injury that hampered Thorn was a broken hamate bone in his left wrist, a common ailment for baseball players. He played nearly two months with the injury, so by the time a doctor revealed a diagnosis, Thorn’s wrist was already healing.
Playing through the pain is just part of Thorn’s character, according to Oilmen manager Adam Enright.
“Usually, with that injury, guys will shut down and wait until it heals,” Enright said. “But that’s not in his makeup. He wants to play, even when it’s summer ball.
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“He played through it, but offensively it really slowed him down.”
Thorn said he didn’t even have to make contact to trigger the discomfort in his left wrist — it was there at every plate appearance.
“It was just about getting rid of the pain,” Thorn said. “I couldn’t swing normally. Once that went away, I got back to my normal swing like I had in college.”
Thorn again resembles the player who hit .327 with a team-best .431 slugging percentage in 42 games at Purdue Northwest.
After opening the MCL season in an 0-for-22 slump, Thorn has batted .426 (11-for-26) in his last six games with two doubles, one home run and 10 RBIs. That has raised his batting average to .262.
Enright said those power numbers should keep increasing because Thorn can swing now without pain.
“It’s less about contact for him and more about doing damage,” Enright said. “His bat speed is back, and he’s starting to get to fastballs better and hitting the ball hard. He’s swinging to produce extra-base hits.”
On defense, Thorn hopes to get back behind the plate to the position he’s handled for the majority of his career.
Injuries and other roster issues forced Thorn into the outfield for the Pride, but there’s no question in Thorn’s mind to where he would rather play.
“Catching is a lot more fun,” he said. “It’s the position I’ve always played at. I’ll take catching over the outfield any day.”
Dave Melton is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.