Playing Through Pain: Astros Prospect Barefoot Working His Way Back to Corpus Christi

Houston Astros prospect Matthew Barefoot played through inflammation in his throwing arm for months, but after surgery in April, his return could occur before end of season.

Matthew Barefoot has taken four at-bats this season. He started one game for Double-A Corpus Christi before being placed on the injured list and hasn't seen the field since.

The 24-year-old played through bicep pain in his throwing arm from late last season into the past offseason. Continued fatigue held him from playing the outfield in his limited action in the first month of the season and in spring training, leading to surgery on his left-bicep tendon connected to his labrum.

"I took some time off after last season throwing, and then when I started throwing again, it was bothering me pretty bad," Barefoot said. "And that's whenever, I reached out to medical staff here."

The Astros flew Barefoot to Houston in December for magnetic resonance imaging on his bicep. The medical staff gave Barefoot a cortisone shot to be able to play through the pain after inflammation was found on his bicep.

Through the rehab process, Barefoot was taking at-bats but wasn't seeing anytime in the field. The 2019 sixth-round pick had a long conversation with the training staff in Corpus Christi before agreeing to undergo surgery in April.

The day following his procedure, Barefoot flew to West Palm Beach, Fla., where he has been rehabbing ever since. He was limited at first, not throwing or hitting for three months to date since his surgery.

Mentally, Barefoot was accepting of the procedure, knowing something had needed to be done in order to play at a high level once again. But as he starts hitting off pitching machines and throwing more, the 24-year-old is feeling more of a drive to get back on the field.

Houston Astros Prospect Matthew Barefoot / Andrew Craft via Imagn Content Services, LLC

"Now's where I'm getting that itch to where I'm ready to go," Barefoot said. "But at the same time, knowing that I have to make sure that I'm healthy, so something like this doesn't happen again."

The Astros are still monitoring Barefoot's hitting from an exertion outlook, but physically, he doesn't feel any of the pain he did four months ago. While hitting is running smoother, the lefty is finally catching his stride on his normal throwing movement.

"This is this past week was the first week of throwing to where I wasn't ready to be done throwing when we started," Barefoot said. "It's just starting to get more endurance on my shoulder. More good days, I guess you could say now."

Barefoot described his injury as unique. He started letting the ball go freely in his first week of throwing and hasn't faced any physical obstacles along the way.

"I feel like I'm confident with it," Barefoot said. "I'm not throwing the ball hard as I can or anything, but as far as my shoulder goes, I'm just letting it go. It isn't prohibiting me at all."

Barefoot doesn't have a firm timetable on a return this season as he takes his rehab week-by-week. But in terms of playing this season, he was told it will be close to the end of the season if he makes it back to Double-A Corpus Christi.

After the 2020 season was canceled, Barefoot broke out in Single-A Fayetteville last spring. The righty roped four home runs in 16 games with a 1.017 OPS before continuing his success onto a promotion to High-A Asheville and finishing the year in Corpus Christi.

Drafted three years ago, Barefoot has only one full minor league season under his belt, but his breed of throwing left-handed and hitting right-handed is popular within the latest success of Astros prospects with Chas McCormick and Jake Meyers on the Major League roster.

"I'm also aware of this organization that we have a few other so that's kind of cool," Barefoot said about throwing left-handed and hitting right-handed. "But it doesn't really cross my mind a lot, but it is cool that our organization has a lot of guys like that."

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