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The Detroit Tigers used the eighth pick in the 2000 major league draft to select Rancho Bernardo High pitcher Matt Wheatland.

Almost five years have passed, and a dozen players taken in the first round of that draft have lived their dream, playing in the major leagues
.
Wheatland, 23, is not among them. What he has lived instead is a nightmare.

Baseball America rated Wheatland the No. 4 prospect in the Tigers organization after his first season, which included a 3-3 record and an impressive 46 strikeouts with just five walks in 46 innings.

It is the only time in his professional career Wheatland was healthy. He has been plagued with shoulder problems ever since.

Three surgeries have limited the 6-foot-5 right-hander to 49 innings over the past four seasons. They cut 6-7 mph from his fastball – the one that touched 95 mph when he was pitching for Rancho Bernardo. They led to his release from two organizations. The surgeries did not, however, eliminate the pain Wheatland experiences when he pitches.

Through it all, Wheatland refuses to give up the dream. He has signed with the San Diego Surf Dawgs, the independent, Single-A level team that begins play in late May in the new Golden Baseball League.

"I just love baseball," said Wheatland. "I love everything about it."

His love of the game is the only explanation for what keeps Wheatland going.

He doesn't need the money. Wheatland was set for life when he received a $2.15 million signing bonus from the Tigers shortly after graduating from RB.

"I asked him what he made last year so I could make him some kind of offer," said Surf Dawgs manager Terry Kennedy. "He said, 'I don't care what you pay me.'

"A guy to come back from all that and still want to throw, you have to give him a lot of credit. I want to give him a chance."

Wheatland could have given up in December 2001, when doctors repaired tears in his rotator cuff and labrum, used a pin to reattach his biceps tendon to his humerus and then gave him a 20 percent chance of pitching again.
It could have been enough in August 2002, when doctors went in to repair the labrum again. Six months of rehab followed, but Wheatland still had difficulty playing catch with a teammate standing 50 feet away.
And Wheatland could have moved on with life in May 2003, when doctors went in a third time to clean up his shoulder, remove scar tissue and scrape a bit off his shoulder bone.

It was supposed to improve Wheatland's range of motion – which it did – and eliminate the pain when he threw a baseball – which it didn't.

The Tigers had Wheatland drop down and throw sidearm in spring training last year. The pain still was excruciating.

"I would get so sick to my stomach from the pain in my shoulder," said Wheatland, "that in between innings I could barely talk. I would just sit there on the bench by myself with a towel wrapped around my arm. People would say, 'How are you feeling?' I could shake my head and that was about it."
The Tigers released him soon thereafter.

Wheatland returned home and worked with renowned pitching coach Tom House, who has refined Wheatland's mechanics to take some of the strain off his shoulder.

"He's taught me everything I need to know to help my body work for my arm," said Wheatland. "It still hurts, but it's . . . tolerable, I guess, is the word.

"I was told I would never pitch again, so I'm expecting to deal with some pain. It's nothing I'm willing to give up the game for."

Wheatland was signed by Houston last year and had some success last summer in the minors, but the Astros released him last month in spring training.

Wheatland pitched a bullpen session last week for Kennedy and signed with the Surf Dawgs minutes after he got off the mound.

"He showed good action and occasionally plus-velocity," said Kennedy. "He knows how to pitch.
"This is a good venue for him. We can be a little patient with him. I want to win, but for a guy like that it tugs at me a little bit. I want to see him succeed."