ANAHEIM, Calif. — Robert Stephenson's tone quickly changed when asked if he was frustrated.
Stephenson was in relatively good spirits for someone who was transferred to the 60-day injured list the day before. He took questions from reporters before Friday night's game and answered them like any other media scrum.
But when he was asked if the process of dealing with his latest injury was frustrating, Stephenson let out a sarcastic chuckle and went quiet for a moment.
Stephenson weakly said "Yeah," almost as if it was meant to be said under his breath. He took another moment before he could get out his response.
"I mean, I threw one game and then back on the 60-day, so it's been two years of not playing," Stephenson said quietly. "It's frustrating."
Stephenson signed a three-year $33 million contract before the 2024 season. He was already dealing with a forearm issue and then underwent Tommy John surgery in April of 2024.
On May 28, Stephenson made his anticipated Angel debut and struck out two New York Yankees hitters in a one-two-three inning. But just two days later, Stephenson was pulled from his outing due to bicep inflammation after throwing only three pitches.
Further testing revealed that Stephenson had a stretched nerve in his bicep. He didn't need another surgery, but the only rehab he could do was simply resting.
Stephenson has yet to return to the mound in any capacity, but has continued to improve his rehab. He said that he played catch at 105 feet last week and only threw at around 80 miles per hour. On Saturday, Stephenson plans to throw to 120 feet for the first time.
One positive note is that Stephenson is no longer feeling pain, but he does feel some discomfort when playing catch. Stephenson said that he doesn't know what distance or velocity he has to hit to be cleared to throw off a mound, but he doesn't want to rush anything.
"The main thing is going to be that my arm feels good when I get on the mound," Stephenson said. "Right now it doesn't hurt, but there's this discomfort to where if I pushed it too quickly and tried to ramp up, try to throw like 90 plus, I don't know what would happen. So just taking it slow until this thing slowly loosens up."
Despite the rehab taking longer than anybody wants, Stephenson is still optimistic he can return to the Angels' bullpen before the season is over.
"I hope it's in August, not in September," Stephenson said. "These things have been so slow. Some days I feel like I'm making progress, some days I don't. I guess that's how nerves work."
The last two years have been tough for Stephenson, to say the least. A Tommy John surgery and then immediately stretching a nerve upon returning have limited him to just one inning of work since signing his contract with the Angels.
He doesn't know when, or if he'll return to the bullpen this year, but Stephenson is focusing on the day-to-day things to ease his mind.
"One day at a time," Stephenson said. "Try not to think about it too much. Just focus on the rehab process, not as much on thinking about how I feel about it. Because the more I think about how I feel about it, the more I get frustrated about it."