DETROIT -- Robbie Ray is itching to get back -- but not for the reason you might think.

¡°I said [to Mariners teammates] that if they don¡¯t start hitting better, I¡¯m going to have to come back,¡± Ray said jokingly before Saturday¡¯s game against the Tigers in his first media availability since undergoing Tommy John surgery and a left flexor tendon repair on May 3. ¡°They¡¯re going to need my bat in the lineup.¡±

Seattle seems to have taken Ray¡¯s ribbing to heart, churning out nine runs in the series opener. Meeting the team for the series in Michigan, Ray emphasized that while he¡¯s early in what will be a lengthy rehab process, he¡¯s determined to take things day by day, grinding through an absence likely to last around 14-18 months.

¡°It¡¯s going to get long, and it¡¯s going to feel like some days, it¡¯s just never going to get better,¡± Ray said. ¡°But I think for me, it¡¯s just reaching that next milestone. Having a milestone each week ¡­ it gives you something to look forward to.¡±

The decision to have surgery wasn¡¯t as tough as it could have been. Ray has known pitchers who have struggled with the process, but he wasn¡¯t one of them. When he met with doctors, there was no agonizing over the choice between rehab and surgery, and no need for a second opinion to further complicate the decision. Ray got the news cut and dry: ¡°You need surgery.¡±

In the second season of a five-year, $115 million contract, Ray¡¯s rehab process has barely gotten started. So far, he¡¯s working mostly on wrist and hand movements, and has started gradually straightening his left arm.

¡°It¡¯s definitely a little weird, having to have someone straighten your arm out,¡± he said. ¡°But it¡¯s going really well.¡±

While he works his way back, Ray is following the advice he¡¯s gotten from fellow pitchers who have returned from lengthy surgeries: Enjoy the time with family.

¡°They¡¯re not sick of me yet,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s nice, being able to take my kids to school, being able to pick them up, being able to hang out with them, stuff that you don¡¯t get to do on a normal basis. It¡¯s nice getting a glimpse into that for the next 14 months or so, getting to spend some quality time with them. Otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t be able to. So I definitely am enjoying my family and my kids, being able to be around and watch them grow up.¡±

He¡¯s enjoying his family. One thing he doesn¡¯t plan to do, though, is spend any time coaching youth baseball.

¡°No, I¡¯m not a coach,¡± he said. ¡°I want to be dad.¡±