The age-old saying “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time” – aka: “Murphy’s law” – could have very easily been called “Ravin’s law” – as in 29-year-old Dodgers right-hander Josh Ravin.

As most Dodger fans know by now, it was exactly one year ago – almost to the day – that the West Hills, California native was involved in a serious traffic accident during Dodgers spring training 2016. In that accident, the 2006 fifth-round draft pick (out of Chatsworth High School by the Cincinnati Reds) suffered a very serious broken left (non-throwing) arm that required emergency surgery and left him in a full arm cast for over a month. Ravin’s injury came on the heels of having already lost 20 pounds after a very serious bout with the flu.

Now that is a broken arm.
(Photo credit – Josh Ravin)

But things would get worse for the 6′-4″ / 230-pound right-hander before they would get better.

Much worse.

On May 2, 2016, Ravin was given an 80-game suspension by Major League Baseball for having tested positive for Peptide 2, a substance banned by the MLB. The substance produces more growth hormone in the body as well as stimulate appetite.

“During 2016 spring training, I came down with a severe case of intestinal flu and strep throat,” Ravin said in a written statement released by the MLB Players Association at the time. “ I was put on antibiotics and lost a total of 20 pounds in less than seven days. To try and speed up my recovery, I took some supplements that I thought would help. Unfortunately, I was not as careful as I should have been and one of the supplements contained a banned substance.

“I later learned that the substance showed up in a regular drug test done of me during 2016 spring training,” Ravin added. “This has been a very painful lesson for me. I have always tried to avoid doing anything in violation of the system and I take full responsibility for the consequences of my actions and my bad judgment. So, I have decided to accept the suspension and continue my ultimate goal to be able to pitch again in the major leagues.”

Like I said – much worse.

But through it all, the extremely popular Southern California native maintained a positive attitude and continued his frequent interactions with his fans – and there are many – on Twitter.

“For me it was just there was really no other way to come out of that situation I had than just being positive,” Ravin said on Friday morning in the Dodgers spring training clubhouse. “This is what I love to do, it was kind of easy in a sense. Obviously not dealing with all the negative things, but knowing that they were over with and I can move on and using that as fuel as I did and I’m continuing to do that.”

Even though Ravin’s broken arm wasn’t on his throwing arm, it affected his rehab considerably and at the absolute worst time of the season – spring training – when players are supposed to ramp up, not shut down.

“It affected me quite a bit because for a good month I couldn’t even bead sweat, I couldn’t even do anything, I had to sit,” Ravin said. “It did affect [my recovery] because I had to restart my throwing program, I had to start back at ground zero. I bounced back pretty quickly, so it wasn’t too big of a delay I guess. It was just at a bad time.”

Ravin said that aside from occasional tightness, his surgically-repaired left arm hasn’t caused him any problems moving forward.

“It’s good, it’s strong, I can do everything,” he said. “I mean, there’s nothing that I can’t do on a daily basis where I’m like ‘Ah, man,’ where I’m thinking about my arm or it’s bothering me. It has its moments when I workout where I feel tightness in certain muscles but that’s all.”

After being acquired by the Dodgers as a minor league free agent on December 13, 2013, Ravin made his MLB debut on June 2, 2015 out of the Dodgers bullpen. He appeared in nine games with the Dodgers in 2015, posting a 2-1 record and 6.75 ERA. However, after his return from his run in with Murphy’s law, he was called back up to the Dodgers on August 8, 2016. Even though Ravin did not record a win or loss in his 10 appearances last season, he posted an outstanding 0.93 ERA in his 9.2 innings of relief work. During that time he allowed only one run on two hits (one a home run) while striking out 13 and walking only four.

A now completely-healthy Josh Ravin enters spring training 2017 on the Dodgers 40-man roster and will be competing for what figures to be an 11-man Dodgers bullpen, and make no mistake about it, the competition will be fierce.

“I felt good after my first bullpen [on Wednesday] and I’m looking forward to my second one today,” Ravin said. “I can’t wait for the season to get started.”

Ravin looked sharp in his second spring training bullpen session on Friday morning.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Ironically – or perhaps bionically would be a better word – there is one big upside to Ravin’s otherwise negative broken arm experience. Aside from that occasional muscle tightness, his bionic arm is arguably stronger than the rest of us.

“I have a 10-inch plate and 11 screws in my left arm. At first I thought it would set off metal detectors at the airports. I thought that I might have to carry some type of card or something to prove that I have a metal plate in my arm, but fortunately if hasn’t set off any alarms … not yet, anyway.”

When all is said and done, you would be hard-pressed to find anyone in any walk of life with a more positive attitude and outlook than Josh Ravin. As such and in spite of the tough competition ahead, don’t be surprised to see Ravin’s name on the Dodgers’ Opening Day roster on April 3.