GLENDALE, Ariz. — As injuries have sidetracked Alex Reyes’ career — the Tommy John surgery that cost him the 2017 season, the torn tendon in his shoulder that ended his 2018 season, the surgery to repair a torn labrum last May — he has carried something that his daughter gave him.
Perspective.
Young Aleyka was diagnosed with neuroblastoma as a 5-month-old in 2017. The rare cancer forms in the immature nerve cells of infants. In Aleyka’s case, the cancer was found in her heart, and she underwent chemotherapy.
Alex was rehabbing from his Tommy John surgery as Aleyka went through chemo. Regaining the 100-mph fastball and sharp breaking stuff that had made him one of the top pitching prospects in baseball didn’t seem quite as important as what his daughter was fighting through.
“My daughter has been through a lot too,” Reyes said. “That’s just always been what I look at and put things into perspective. Baseball — that’s my love, that’s my passion. But at the end of the day, it’s a game that I play, right? For her, it was a life-or-death situation. So it’s completely different for me. I just look at the big picture. I want to be on the field and it’s a game that I love to play, but I’ve just got to let God do his thing.
“It was a part of my life that I look back at now and I find strength from those moments.”
Reyes has needed that strength. His injury history has kept him from throwing as many as 20 innings in a big-league season four of the five years since he debuted in 2016. His one healthy season (2021), he was an All-Star closer for the St. Louis Cardinals, a hint of the potential that made him such a dynamic prospect.
“The injuries are definitely tough,” Reyes said. “But at the end of the day, my goal is to be on a baseball field and there’s no other way to do that other than getting through it.”
Aleyka got through her early challenges. Alex said she recently had her annual checkup and Aleyka (now 6 years old) is…
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