Josh Ruchotzke still has a baseball future despite missing limbs

From home plate to first base to second and third and back to home. It's baseball's natural progression.

It's symbolic of its symmetry and simplicity. It's what kept Farmington (Ill.) senior second baseman Josh Ruchotzke sane the last five years, focused, balanced and motivated.

And, perhaps his mom says, alive.

To watch the senior maneuver around the bases either elicits a dropped jaw, a quizzical scowl, or for anyone who knows what he and his family have endured and overcome since January of 2008, a flood of tears.



In the middle of seventh grade, Ruchotzke, a spunky, scholarly and highly athletic 13-year-old, was invaded on the inside by the deadly streptococci bacteria, ravaging his organs and tissues and blood flow.

Doctors differed somewhat on a diagnosis — one told his mother Angi he had less than 5 percent chance to survive — but all agreed there was no time to waste. The infection was literally destroying him from the inside.

"A doctor told me this wasn't a day-by-day or even hour-by-hour proposition," Angi said. "It was minute-by-minute."

There's no time to reflect in that situation. No time to ask how or why.

"Your entire focus is to get through each moment, each minute and what are you going to do next," Angi said.

Within an hour, she and her son were on an emergency helicopter from Peoria, Ill. to the Denver Clinic for Extremities at Risk. The only way for Ruchotzke's survival was amputation. Four of them.



Both legs below the knee. Most of his two hands, leaving a left pad and a few digits on his right.

Losing parts of his four limbs certainly crushed his dream of playing Major League baseball. But he had life and loved ones, family, faith and support, and most of all, a strong, determined heart and will.

See a slideshow of Josh Ruchotzke in action

His new dream still involved Major League baseball, but now it was to manage it, and to get there he needed more time on the diamond.

"Josh has always been very determined," Angi said. "When he sets his mind to something, he doesn't let anything stop him. ... And the team in Denver didn't stutter for a minute. They told Josh to do what he wanted to do. Like the rest of us, we didn't know how it was going to happen but they weren't going to say no."

Piece-by-piece, limb-by-limb the Denver Clinic put him back together and miraculously, one step, one base at a time, Ruchotzke is in the final stages of a solid high school career.



With the use of state-of-the-art prosthetics, a magic glove made by Rawlings, remarkable patience, preposterous determination and unyielding support from family, community and teammates, Ruchotzke is hitting .279 with 15 RBIs (third on his team) heading into today's regional at Brumfield.

He's also the Farmers' regular second baseman after relearning how to throw with his two disfigured digits and catch with only his left pad.

"It took a lot of time and struggles to get used to all my new parts and the equipment and the prosthetics," Ruchotzke said. "It was definitely challenging. But I never really got down because I just focused on all the positives. So many people were willing to help me out so I just took advantage of it."

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The Determined gene

Ruchotzke's determination and ability to focus on only the positives largely stems from his upbringing.



His younger siblings Emily, a junior at Farmington, and Jacob, a freshman, were diagnosed with cystic fibrosis as children. Jacob wasn't supposed to make it to middle school, but like his older brother he has flourished, and is now the starting second baseman on the freshman team.

Just like big brother. That brings a giant smile to Ruchotzke.

"Knowing how much they've had to struggle in their life made me know that I could make it through also," Ruchotzke said.

He rarely did growing up.

Ruchotzke starred in all sports, much like his dad Greg, who was a star football player and track sprint star in high school. Greg eventually earned a track scholarship to Western Illinois, where he had blazing best times of 10.22 seconds in the 100 meters and 20.68 in the 200.

Dad also ran on a broken right foot at the Illinois state high school finals for Farmington his senior year and placed fifth in both sprints. The night before in prelims he recorded the best times in the state but that's when he injured his foot. He ran the next day anyway.



"I think that's where that determined gene comes from," Angi said.

Also the athletic one. Ruchotzke wasn't nearly as fast as his dad, but his soft hands in the field and quick hands at the plate caught the eye of many high-level baseball coaches.

Ruchotzke played on the Hitmen Travel Team and his parents took him all over the country to play, including stops in Florida, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arizona and Colorado.

Shortly before he fell ill, Ruchotzke was spotted by a pro scout in Arizona, according to Greg.

"I'm not just saying this, but scouts told me Josh had ‘it,'" his father said. "He had those soft, quick hands."

All the more tragic that he lost them.



Considering how good he is now and how much he's overcome, does he ever wonder how good he would have been with his four God-given limbs?

"I can't really think about that because that's just not who I am anymore," he said. "Since I got sick, I just tried to think about what I can control and I've been so happy and excited to get back to baseball."

Remarkably enough, he actually got back to playing basketball first after his amputations, playing for the Farmington Middle School eighth grade team.

He didn't play much, but just competing at anything felt great. Except the hip part. He's had to have two replaced, which ended his basketball career.

No matter. Ruchotzke pursued his first love of baseball with the help of a Batzilla to hit. The Batzilla is strapped to his left arm and allows him to swing, though it's awkward to run to first base with a bat still stuck to the apparatus, which is attached to his left arm.

Not that running with two carbon legs is any piece of cake either.



"Putting all the pieces in place was sort of like a puzzle," Ruchotzke said. "I won't lie, it was pretty challenging. Sometimes everything would all fall apart because the torque and force I used was too strong. A lot of the models broke.

"Eventually I got used to it and it all worked out."

See a pic-by-pic sequence of how Ruchotzke attaches "Batzilla"

Breathtaking

As a sophomore he hit close to .500 on the JV team, but last year he struggled to hit .200 on the varsity. But struggle is a relative term.

Just to see their son on the field, like any other healthy American teen running the bases, was a sight to behold, said his parents.

"It's been phenomenal to see what he's accomplished," Angi said. "To actually see what he had hoped to do from that hospital bed. To watch him fight so hard to learn how to bat and throw and catch all over again. To find his own groove. It was incredible. Almost breathtaking."



Said Greg: "It was very emotional to see him step out there again for the first time. To know how far he'd come to get to that point. What he went through. How he handled it. There's not a word strong enough to say how proud I am. We are."

There's an outside chance he might not play Thursday after his right prosthetic came loose rounding third base in a game on Saturday.

Ruchotzke's tolerance for pain is obviously great so he stayed in the game and went out to second base. But 30 minutes later, he took himself out — a first — and it was later determined he had a bone spur in his right stump.

He's been confined to a wheelchair — also a first over the last five years — due to the injury. He's hell-bent on at least playing DH in the Thursday regional. If the Farmers lose, however, their season is over.

"I've had a real good run and accomplished probably more than I expected," he said. "But I don't want to go out sitting on the bench. I have to get another shot."

No matter if he sits or not, his baseball path is clear and bright.



A 3.96 student — he earned a Sterling Merit scholarship Tuesday for being in the top eight percent academically in the country — Ruchotzke has been accepted to be the team baseball manager at Vanderbilt next season. As of Monday, Vanderbilt was 45-6 and ranked No. 1 in the country by Baseball America.

Ruchotzke's dream was always to play at a top Division I program. Now he's going to the best. 

He won't be playing for the Commodores — you can bet he'll be practicing — but he now plans to learn the game inside-out while studying law and eventually land his new dream job as a Major League general manager.

Watch out Billy Beane.

"It's really the best of the best at Vanderbilt," said Ruchotzke, who bypassed several trips to other schools after one visit to the Nashville, Tenn. campus. "There was no need to visit any place else. It's everything I want."

Until Ruchotzke gets to Nashville, he figures to help and inspire others throughout the country as well as cherish the close friends and supporters in his tight community of Farmington (population 2,500) and Fulton County. His story - told regionally for years know - hit the national circuit last week and only figures to grow.



His Twitter account @joshruchotzke is expanding rapidly with followers. So is his message: "Baseball is my life! Committed to Vanderbilt."

Of course, his path and circle around the bases now resonates to a wider field than the baseball diamond. He communicated with a struggling 30-year-old Twitter follower last week who also was inflicted with streptococci. Another follower from London told Josh that his story inspired a 12-year-old team from England.

Ruchotzke also re-tweeted a message from another follower who wrote: "The hardest thing about 'everything happens for a reason' is waiting for the reason to come along."

Clearly, Ruchotzke and his family don't wait around. They just keep doing, fighting and flourishing.

"If my story can help inspire others and raise awareness then I'm more than happy to tell it," Ruchotzke said. "Honestly I've never really got down about all of it. I just try to think about all the positives, all the people who have supported me and all the resources I've been given. I just keep reminding myself that it's all going to work out for the best."

E-mail senior writer and columnist Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com or follow him on Twitter @MitchMashMax.

*** Donations to the Joshua Benefit Fund can be sent to the following: Josh Ruchotzke Benefit Fund, c/o Heritage Bank of Central Illinois, 12223 W. Farmington Road, Hanna City, Ill. 61536 or through Paypal by sending to joshruchotzke10@gmail.com.