"Jordan Schafer knows that plenty of Braves fans have already written him off, even at 24. The center fielder doesn't blame them. He knows they're frustrated with him. But frustration barely begins to describe what Schafer's felt while losing two seasons of his once-promising career to a fractured hand and bone-fusion surgery. Imagine hitting a homer on 2009 opening day at Philadelphia in your major league debut, then getting hurt the next week and then being sent to the minors six weeks later. X-rays and an MRI showing nothing serious, despite your pain. Imagine struggling three more months before another MRI showed a fracture, then having surgery, rushing your comeback the next year and then learning you just can't will bone to a speedier recovery. Imagine another season of struggling in the minors, recurring pain, self-doubt creeping in, a demotion from Triple-A to Double-A, then being told to just shut it down, to go home and rest. That's been Schafer's two years in a nutshell. He's says he better now. Back hitting and lifting weights without stabbing jolts of pain coming out of nowhere. Says he's strong again. Ready. He's been swinging pain-free in Florida. "I've never felt this good going into spring training," said Schafer, who worked out six days a week, four to five hours a day, for two months at the Braves' spring training facility in Lake Buena Vista, Fla." Read more: http://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-braves/schafer-says-hes-healthy-774807.html
