Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Rocco Baldelli, taking batting practice at spring training, says he and the doctors who have examined him are at a loss to explain why he’s suffering so many injuries.

AP / Al Behrman

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Rocco Baldelli has heard the rumors. He knows about the speculation surrounding his injury-prone major-league career. And, he says, the word frustration doesn’t put into perspective how he feels about his latest health issue and all the conspiracy theories.

He’s heard that he has multiple sclerosis. He heard that he has a rare blood disorder, or other serious diseases. He’s heard whispers of steroids. So yesterday he set the record straight for his fans and the people who care about his well-being in Rhode Island and across Major League Baseball, saying these reports are simply not true.

“I can tell you this,” he said. “I don’t have MS.”

And the rare blood disorder?

“No,” he said.

Steroids?

“Come on. Look at this [body],” he said, laughing, as he gestured to his 6-foot-4, 190-pound frame.

He emphatically denied all of it, saying there’s no legitimacy to any of the rumors.

“I’ve been tested for everything under the sun, the whole gamut, trying to find the stem of what all these problems are that I’m having. I can tell you I don’t have MS, there’s no chance. … I know it sounds bad when I’m denying specific things.”

But while he knows what it’s not, he’s still not sure exactly what it is.

“I can’t say that I have X, Y and Z,” he said. “I had mixed results in my tests and for me to try to explain what I have, I just can’t do it with a quote in the newspaper. There’s no way for me to say what I have, because as far as exactly the problem I’m having, I don’t know.

“I can plop medical files in front of you and let you read through them, but that’s the only way to explain all the results of all the tests that I’ve had. I just can’t simplify it and say ‘This is what I have going on.’ ”

Due to an assortment of injuries, Baldelli has been limited to 127 games in the three previous seasons in Tampa. The biggest issue for the 26-year-old has been with his legs, specifically his hamstrings. His legs tighten up, then cramp, and the muscles aren’t able to recover to a point where he’s able to play every day.

The Rays’ first-round selection (sixth overall) in 2000, Baldelli continues to deal with questions surrounding his health, but he wants to make it clear that he intends on playing baseball as long as he can.

Dating back to his days on the basketball court, volleyball court and the baseball field at Bishop Hendricken High School, Baldelli has always dealt with the normal strains and muscle pulls that come with being a phenomenal athlete. But he realized something wasn’t right last year, so he met with team trainers and doctors in an attempt to pinpoint exactly what was happening with his legs and how he could fix the problem.

He says he still doesn’t know.

“I’ve felt a lot of different sensations, which is probably the reason why I was sent for all these tests,” he said. “Nothing came back specifically positive.” He won’t detail the specifics of the battery of tests he keeps referring to, the ones that have taken place here in Tampa, and he wouldn’t give specific locations. But he said he’s been examined by doctors around the country.

“I don’t know this for a fact,” he said, “but I feel like I’ve been tested for everything on Earth. The testing I went through last year was pretty extensive …

“I have had some problems with my muscles recovering. They don’t recover on a day-to-day basis like I would like them to. It’s tough when you wake up one day and they don’t feel as good as they did the day before. It’s not a fun feeling. We’re still looking to get that very specific diagnosis so I can sleep better at night.”

During this process, Baldelli said he has never thought about calling it quits and hanging up his spikes.

“That’s not my type of personality,” he said. “I love playing and I love being out here and love being part of a team. It’s not something I’m going to be giving up on very easily.”

The one specific question he has answered over the last few injury-prone seasons has been about how frustrated he is. It’s safe to say he’s frustrated about being asked about frustration.

“There’s no way to quantify frustration,” he said. “Every time I thought I was frustrated, little did I know I would be more frustrated in the future. This is probably one of the most difficult and frustrating things I’ve had to deal with, just the fact I haven’t been able to get healthy. It’s one thing to think about your baseball career, it’s another thing to think about your body and not being able to feel the way you want it to feel.”

This spring he had only two at-bats before he suffered another setback, and there’s no timetable on his return. He’s literally taking it one day at a time. Still, every day presents a new challenge for Baldelli.

“As a baseball player, you just want to be out on the field,” he said. “You want to show up to the field and you want your body to feel good enough where you don’t have to be in the training room, getting work done on you. I’ve been in the training room a lot throughout my career, and that’s a frustrating thing. I’ve had surgeries and have had to rehab months at a time and, to me, that’s not baseball. Everyone deals with injuries; that’s the reality of this game. But I feel like I’ve spent a little too much time in the training room and not enough time on the baseball field.”

His much-anticipated rookie season in 2003, Baldelli starred in 156 games where he hit .289 with 32 doubles, 8 triples, 11 homers and 27 stolen bases. He finished third in Rookie of the Year voting behind the Royals’ Angel Berroa, who won the award, and the Yankees’ Hideki Matsui.

Baldelli followed his rookie campaign with a solid sophomore season in 2004, playing 136 games and posting a .280 average. He compiled 27 doubles, 3 triples and 16 homers with 74 RBI. But that was the year he began getting hit with the injury bug, something he would have to get used to. In August 2004 a quad injury that had been bothering him since June landed him on the DL in what proved to be the first of many trips to rehab. After missing 15 games he returned and finished the season strong.

A few weeks after the conclusion of the 2004 season, he tore the ACL in his left knee while playing baseball with his younger brother at the family’s home in Cumberland. He had surgery in November and missed the 2005 season.

If that wasn’t bad enough, during his rehab at the Rays’ minor-league complex in Tampa that June, he tore his ulnar collateral ligament in his right arm and needed “Tommy John surgery” to repair the damage.

Despite the setbacks, the Rays signed him to a six-year deal worth $32 million, with anticipation of a full recovery.

After beginning the 2006 season on the DL due to a left hamstring injury he suffered during spring training that sidelined him for two months, he returned on June 7 and started 85 of Tampa’s remaining 103 games. Overall, he hit .302 in 92 games, including 24 doubles, 6 triples and 16 homers with 57 RBI. He stole 10 bases. He seemed to be on his way back.

Unfortunately, it was business as usual for Baldelli during spring training in 2007. He suffered a right hamstring injury, but it wasn’t serious enough to keep him from starting on Opening Day as the Rays’ DH. The recurring hamstring injury surfaced on May 15 and it limited him to 35 games where he hit .204 in 137 at-bats with 5 homers, 6 doubles and 12 RBI. During his summer-long rehab he attempted to play in a couple of minor-league games, but quickly suffered a setback and never returned to the Rays’ lineup.

Baldelli and the Rays were hoping 2008 would be different, but that hasn’t been the case so far.

Because of his leg problems, the Rays are toying with putting the talented center fielder at first base and DH, while also serving as the team’s fourth outfielder.

After spending about an hour in the trainer’s room when he first arrived yesterday morning, he took BP at Progress Energy Park, the Rays’ spring training facility, which is just a hit-and-run away from their seasonal home, Tropicana Field. His swing looked good, but certainly not in midseason form.

That’s really not a concern at this point, however. Now he just wants to be healthy. He wants to be able to play baseball.

The Rays, who with their plethora of young talent figure to be one of baseball’s most improved teams this year, want the same thing.

“It would be good,” said teammate and fellow Rhode Islander Dan Wheeler, “to have him back in the clubhouse.”

jmcdonal@projo.com