Paul answered the phone from Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago, where he has spent over the past month learning to walk again after spinal cord surgery.
“I’m leaving,” Zach told his father.
The video chat was brief. Words are difficult when emotions are so strong. Immediately, Paul had tears in his eyes.
“Okay,” Paul told his son, “we’re okay too.”
Paul gets checked out of the hospital, which means he can’t go back. The remainder of his rehab treatment is scheduled to take place in Kansas, where he remains an outpatient. That’s OK, he said, as long as he can see Zach fulfill his dream of playing in the big leagues. The 24-year-old left-hander will start against Washington on Wednesday at Nationals Park.
Paul said, “It was go and be a father and support a young man in Zach or take care of my health.” “The doctors at Shirley Ryan assured me that my health was in good hands and that they felt I could do it. So it really made my decision a lot easier.”
After that memorable video chat, Paul and his wife, Julie, traveled to Chicago O’Hare International Airport to fly to Washington, D.C. He moved around the airport in a wheelchair. Once they reach the National Park, they expect to see their son from Section 114. Paul plans to get into a wheelchair seat.
Paul still can’t walk on his own. He is progressing every day. One of his most recent milestones occurred earlier this week when he walked 466 feet with the help of a two-wheel walker.
Paul, a former track star, decides that his condition will not prevent him from watching Zach make his debut.
So he checked out Shirley Ryan on Tuesday, having the surgery removed less than two months before she was temporarily paralyzed from the waist down.
“Honestly, as a father, I wouldn’t miss it,” Paul said.
Zach said Tuesday that the first call he made after the Mets informed him of his promotion was to his father. Paul has seen every walk. Paul believed in Zach as a pitcher while few others did.
“I pitch for him with a big heart,” Zack said.
Those who know Zack describe him as an underdog. He is 6 feet 3 tall, but he used to be the shortest player on his Little League teams. As a junior in high school, he pitched only two innings for the varsity team. Upon graduating in 2020, he went undrafted.
It was not until Zach attended Barton County Community College in Kansas that his baseball career took off. As a freshman, he produced a 2.63 ERA with 91 strikeouts in 78 2/3 innings. His father also helped him gain attention.
Paul is the track and field coach for the University of Kansas. One of Paul’s good friends is the track and field coach at Grand Canyon University. The friend showed a video of Zach to the baseball coach at Grand Canyon University. Then the Antelopes started recruiting Zach.
The Mets drafted Zach out of GCU in the fifth round of the 2023 amateur draft. Throughout his time in the minor leagues, Zach has developed a reputation for being fearless. Throws long lefty strikes.
Zach has only played two games in Triple A. In over a dozen innings at that level, he allowed only three runs and three walks while striking out 13. Needing a starter after losing veteran Clay Holmes to the injured list, the Mets could have called up Jonah Tong or Jack Weninger, chances were higher than Zach. Instead, he chose Zack.
When asked, Zach described himself as “an ultimate competitor.”
it runs in the family.
“I get it 100 percent from him,” Zach said, obviously referencing his father.
Until recently, much of Paul’s life revolved around running and track. He joined Kansas in September 2018 after coaching men’s sprinters, hurdlers, jumpers and multi-event athletes for 10 years in Minnesota. Prior to his coaching career, Paul was a star athlete at St. Olaf College, making All-Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference three times.
At the end of winter, Paul experienced some numbness on his right side. On March 22, he and Julie went on a 1 1/2 mile hike. He kept dragging his feet till the end. Two days later, Paul went to the doctor for an MRI. On April 2, surgery was performed to remove the tumor from his spinal cord.
But he said, during the operation, Paul started bleeding from his spine. He was losing sensation in his lower body. Paul explained that the surgeon took out as much of the tumor as possible before needing to stop. Within a day or two, Paul was transferred to Shirley Ryan. Along with Julie, they have documented their journey on social media. In his first video from the facility, he cried as he said his goal was to run again in time for the NCAA Track and Field Championships in mid-June.
“I’m ready to fight,” Paul said in his first video.
On the phone from the airport, Paul’s voice wavered only once when discussing the past few months, when he talked about the support he had received from his daughter, Marissa; her husband, Jackson; And Julie and Zach.
Despite spending most of the last two months with Double-A Binghamton, Zach has seen his father a few times recently. After Paul’s surgery, the Mets take Zach out to see his father. When Paul moved in with Shirley Ryan, she flew Zach to Chicago.
“They have been nothing but amazing,” Paul said.
The Mets are not committed to how long Zach will stay in the majors. A lot of it depends on how he performs.
Once he gets back to Kansas, Paul said he plans to “work all summer long” in hopes of walking on his own again as soon as possible. He wants his next step to be seeing Zack pitch without needing a wheelchair.
“The next time I go and get a chance to see Zack pitch, I’ll be able to go in with just a walker,” Paul said.
<a href=