Matt Clement, reacting after giving up a hit during a game against the Yankees last season, will take a step closer to pitching during the first week of March, when he will play catch for the first time since his surgery.

The Providence Journal / Bob Breidenbach

FORT MYERS, Fla. — While the rest of the Boston Red Sox’ pitchers are throwing bullpen sessions or tossing batting practice these days, Matt Clement has been inside the clubhouse, rehabbing his surgically repaired right shoulder.

No one, including Clement, knows when he’ll be able to throw off the mound again after last September’s surgery. The arthroscopic procedure, performed by noted orthopedist James Andrews, showed more extensive damage to his rotator cuff and labrum than anyone, including Andrews, had expected.

Clement will take one step closer to pitching during the first week of March, when he will be given the green light to play a little catch for the first time since the surgery.

Whether he’ll be able to make a contribution to the Sox’ mound corps this season is unknown. But Clement is ahead of schedule at this point, and just being able to pick up a baseball now is important to him.

"To know I can throw in March, when I was told I wasn’t supposed to be able to throw again until April, is mentally the best medicine I could get. I’ve hit one of my goals. Obviously, I have many more left," said Clement, sitting in the Sox’ clubhouse yesterday.

There was one major goal that he was unable to achieve last year — making all of his scheduled starts. Clement was placed on the disabled list on June 16 because of a fatigued right shoulder, which contributed to his 5-5 record and woeful 6.61 earned-run average.

Lots of pitchers wind up on the DL. Last year, for instance, fellow Boston starters David Wells and Tim Wakefield spent time on the DL, and Curt Schilling went three weeks without a start in September because of a strained latissimus.

But this was Clement, living up (down?) to his reputation as a "soft" pitcher, not mentally tough enough to handle pitching in Boston. And the MRIs didn’t explain anything about the injury that made him too weak to compete.

So the whispers about his toughness intensified.

They had begun when the Sox signed Clement to a three-year, $21-million deal prior to the 2005 season, and grew louder when his All-Star first half that season turned into a second-half slump and a postseason meltdown in Chicago. They reached a crescendo last year when Clement kept getting pounded, knocked out before pitching five innings in three of his last four starts.

"The disappointing thing was something I take a lot of pride in was being doubted," said Clement. "All through the minors and the major leagues, I made all my starts. I never even had a sniff of the DL except when I got hit in the head."

Clement, drilled off the side of the head by a Carl Crawford line drive on July 26, 2005, in a scary, seemingly career-threatening moment, missed the equivalent of only one start before returning to the mound.

It has been a badge of honor for Clement that, until last year, he had made at least 30 starts in each of his first seven full seasons in the big leagues.

"Maybe I just brainwash myself, but I could always find a way to go out to the mound and pitch. I didn’t feel great all the time, but I found a way," said Clement.

Until last year, when his shoulder told him that he just couldn’t do it. The MRIs, though, didn’t show anything scary. So he kept trying. He did long-toss sessions. He threw bullpen sessions. But something wasn’t right, and he knew it, even if the fans and maybe some in the organization didn’t, even if Andrews didn’t.

"He talked to me and my wife before the surgery and he said he was going to go in and clean some stuff up. When he left, I turned to my wife and I said, ‘I don’t want to sound pessimistic. I hope he’s right, but nothing has ever stopped me like this before,’ " said Clement.

When Andrews looked around in the shoulder, he found "significant damage," the phrase used by manager Terry Francona in informing the media of the outcome.

If Clement were a different type of person, he might have been shouting "I told you so" to those who doubted his claim that he wasn’t healthy enough to pitch.

"I can’t say the surgery was vindication," said Clement. "If people were saying I was faking, people are entitled to their opinions. I can deal with that. It was just disappointing. You have to have a tough skin. Is it fun? No.

"I understand that as a major-league player, and with us making so much money, you’re going to get criticized. I’m not going to say I like it. I’d rather everyone say nice things about me all the time. But I understand. I said this a few times last year, that I would have booed myself after some of those games. Maybe only one percent of the players don’t get criticized, and they end up in the Hall of Fame, and even they get criticized sometimes," said Clement.

He has no regrets about trying to pitch through the injury early last year. And despite the criticism he has endured since arriving in Boston, he says he has no second thoughts about signing with the Sox.

Now, though, Clement is living in the present, one long day of rehab after another.

He said he worked seven days a week at home doing therapy, and has continued working hard with assistant trainer Mike Reinold since he has been in camp. He arrives early so he can begin his routine of stretching, light weight work, more stretching and cardio work before the rest of his teammates arrive.

The ultimate goal is to get back on the mound. Clement, 32, is in the final year of his contract. He wants to pitch at some point this season to help out the Sox, and also to show other teams that he’s healthy enough to sign next year, when he’ll be a free agent.

But he isn’t going to rush himself.

"It doesn’t help anybody if I rush back in July and I’m not healthy and end the season hurt," said Clement.

He’s confident he will be starting somewhere next year.

"I’m at peace with what happened," said Clement.

He’s just going to take it the proverbial one step at a time, beginning with a simple game of catch in a week or so.

skrasner@projo.com