Left-hander Ron Mahay was having probably the best season of his career last year before suffering left plantar fasciitis, a bruised heel and arch.
Mahay, 37, was 5-0 with a 1.75 ERA before the injury. In his final 10 appearances, he allowed 14 earned runs and 16 hits in eight innings to hike his ERA to 3.48. Mahay's foot, however, did not heal properly with rest and physical therapy in the offseason, so he had a procedure done on Jan. 12 by surgeon Dr. Robert Anderson in Charlotte, N.C., to correct the problem.
Dr. Anderson did an ultrasonic blast wave on Mahay's foot to break up the fibers in his heel.
Mahay said he decided to have the procedure done because his foot was not getting better, and it was getting close to the time the Royals report next month to Surprise, Ariz. for spring training.
While Mahay said the six-minute procedure was painless and he was walking immediately afterward, he plans to proceed with caution in spring training. The plantar fasciitis was on his push-off foot.
Mahay said he will report with the pitchers and catchers and will be able to throw off the mound from the start, but he will be throwing "nice and easy, just to be sure I don't feel anything when I push off."
Mahay will likely be one of three left-handers in the bullpen. The others would be Jimmy Gobble and John Bale, who started last season in the rotation but finished it as a reliever.
Mahay was named the Royals' pitcher of the month in July, when he went 1-0 with a 0.63 ERA in 12 relief appearances. That was before the plantar fasciitis slowed him in August, and he landed on the disabled list on Aug. 22, retroactive to Aug. 16.
