Following brain tumor removal, Wimmer full-go at Rockies camp

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Rockies infield-outfield prospect Braylen Wimmer appreciated the conversation he had with doctors during a 3 1/2-hour surgery in November to remove a golf ball-sized tumor on the left side of his brain.

“It was a lot of baseball, and we were talking about Christmas -- just about anything they could bring up,” said Wimmer, 25, who underwent the procedure after an unexpected seizure that occurred while he was playing in the Arizona Fall League. “They were trying to keep me talking, to know where they were in the brain exactly. The tumor was close to where my speech and motor skills are. It was to make sure they didn’t nick anything that would impair my speech.

“It was like, ‘What position do you play?’ It was just a small part of the surgery, just to make sure I was up and talking.”

Now, Wimmer is doing more than talking about baseball.

Wimmer, who hit a combined .296 at High-A Spokane and Double-A Hartford last year before an abbreviated Fall League stint (.222 in 17 games), is back to performing full baseball activities, and he’s expecting to be ready for the season when Minor League camp breaks.

“I don’t want there to be any limitations,” Wimmer said. “And if I don’t break camp, I want to be up there this year. I want this to be a crazy story.

“I’m going to treat this like a normal year, go through everything that I would usually do. I don’t plan on staying here [in extended Spring Training]. Soon as we’re good to go, I’m good to go.”

Wimmer was an 2023 eighth-round MLB Draft pick out of the University of South Carolina whom the Rockies followed extensively at Yukon High School near Oklahoma City and through college. He had a breakout while adding extensive outfield play to his position profile (shortstop, second base and third base). Wimmer is a classic late bloomer who benefitted from playing college ball through his senior year.

The tumor, Wimmer said, was diagnosed as an astrocytoma. He said doctors can’t say they removed it all, so he is undergoing MRIs every three weeks to assure that his recovery is continuing.

Wimmer was hitting soft toss two weeks after surgery. Now, at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, he’s built up to doing weight room workouts, hitting, fielding and running. Weight and strength are returning.

“Last year at Spring Training, I came in at probably 205 pounds, and I got down to 170 after surgery,” said Wimmer, who went into last year listed at 6-foot-3 but looks to have grown. “I am back up to 187, what I weighed yesterday. I’d like to add 5-10 more pounds.”

Rockies senior player development director Chris Forbes, a multi-time cancer survivor who is currently undergoing treatments, was present for the surgery. Forbes’s research and conversations with other patients helped solidify his treatment plan, and he encouraged Wimmer to do the same.

“Once he talked to a guy that had the same surgery with the same doctor, it helped him really gain his footing,” Forbes said. “He really had a foundation to get his feet on the ground and start the fight.

“We talked about the mistakes I had made. You could get on ‘Dr. Google’ and read some stuff that’s absolutely going to drag you down a rabbit hole.”

Informed and on the health upswing, Wimmer said one concern from trainers is if there is a collision with a teammate going for a ball. But Wimmer is focused on continuing the momentum from last year’s Minor League season.

“This was always a dream of mine, since I was 3 years old -- as long as I can remember,” he said. “I’m not going to let this knock me down.”

Cactus League opener ... renewal
Righty Antonio Senzatela -- who was moved to the bullpen last year but is receiving a chance to be a rotation option -- will start for the Rockies in Friday afternoon’s Cactus League opener against the Diamondbacks at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick.

“Without us playing any games, I see an energized human being,” manager Warren Schaeffer said. “That's what I see -- working with a bunch of new people with ideas that can help him. Everything’s fresh. There’s a lot of optimism around him, and rightfully so.”

Also pitching Friday are lefty Sean Sullivan (the Rockies’ No. 12 prospect), lefty Konner Eaton (No. 21), righty relievers Juan Mejia, Zach Agnos and RJ Petit (a Rule 5 Draft pick from the Tigers), and lefty reliever Luis Peralta. Saturday, also against the Diamondbacks, the Rockies will start non-roster righty Valente Bellozo, who made 45 appearances (19 starts) for the Marlins over the last two seasons.