34 days ’til Opening Day: Reggie Willits

There are 34 days left until that best day of the year, MLB’s Opening Day.

34 is also the number of RBI Reggie Willits had last season for the Angels. It wasn’t the RBI that made Willits valuable though. In his first full major-league season, Willits had an OBP of .391.

Though what really amazes me about Willits is that he played all of last season with a non-functioning gallbladder. He had surgery to remove it in January. From MLB.com: (ellipsis mine)

Bothered all season by persistent pains in the stomach and rib cage, Willits persevered. The source of the disturbance went undiagnosed until it was determined with extensive winter testing that he had a non-functioning gallbladder.

…

“I feel 100 times better since I had my surgery,” Willits said on Thursday, decked out in a New York Giants cap and T-shirt as pitchers and catchers reported. “My energy is coming back. It was something that zapped my energy level a little bit and caused me to fade down a little more than I should.”

Wow. I’m no medical expert, but that must have painful. Imagine what Willits is capable of know that he is painfree. In case you forgot what the gall bladder is, here’s a lesson from the National Institute of Health:

The gallbladder is a muscular sac located under the liver. It stores and concentrates the bile produced in the liver that is not immediately needed for digestion. Bile is released from the gallbladder into the small intestine in response to food. The pancreatic duct joins the common bile duct at the small intestine adding enzymes to aid in digestion.

And here’s what the NIH website had to say about gallbladder removal:

The surgery is done while the patient is under general anesthesia (unconscious and pain-free). The procedure is most commonly done using a small video camera called a laparoscope. If this is the case, the surgeon makes about 4 small cuts in the belly area. The laparoscope is passed through these small cuts. Carbon dioxide will be passed into the belly area so that the abdomen is lifted up. This provides more space for the surgeon to work.

The surgeon identifies the vessels and duct going to the gallbladder and cuts them. This allows the gallbladder to be removed.

Going back to baseball, I wonder how much Willits is going to play this year with four big-name outfielders already on the roster (Vladimir Guerrero, Torii Hunter, Garret Anderson and Gary Matthews, Jr.). As much as I love the guy, I kind wish the Angels could trade him and/or Juan Rivera for something they can actually use. Willits might be wasted as the fifth outfielder barring major injuries. But I guess you never know — one or more of those guys could (and will likely) get hurt.