So, I was thinking about Jarrod Parker the other day. Remember him? That pitcher for the A’s? Man, that guy had some serious stuff back then. I used to watch him throw, just electric.
I remember getting pretty excited when he first came up. You could just see the potential, right? Like, this guy could be something special. I’d make sure to catch his starts when I could. Got myself tuned into the games, followed the box scores online, the whole deal. It was fun watching him deal, racking up strikeouts.
Then the tough part started…
Injuries, man. It’s the worst part of sports. First, it was the Tommy John surgery. Okay, lots of guys come back from that, right? I figured, give him a year, year and a half, he’ll be back throwing heat. And he did come back, which was great.
But then, boom. Another injury. Wasn’t it his elbow again? Or something related. It just felt like one setback after another. I remember reading the updates, each one feeling like a punch to the gut. You root for guys like that, you know? You see the talent, you see the work they put in, and you just want them to succeed.
It got me thinking about setbacks in my own stuff. Not baseball, obviously, I can barely throw a ball straight. But you know, projects at work, things I try to build or fix around the house, even just trying to stick to a routine. Stuff goes wrong. Unexpectedly. You plan everything out, you put in the effort, and then something just breaks or doesn’t work out.
- First, I usually get mad or frustrated. Just gotta let that out for a minute. Stare at the wall, maybe mutter a few things.
- Then, I gotta step back. Just walk away from it for a bit. Trying to fix it when you’re annoyed never works.
- Next step is looking at what actually went wrong. Like, really look. Take it apart, figure out the broken piece, metaphorically speaking. Sometimes it’s obvious, sometimes you gotta dig.
- Once I know the problem, I start thinking about solutions. Can I fix it? Do I need a different part? Maybe I need to try a completely different approach.
- Then it’s just a matter of trying again. Slowly. Carefully. It might not work the first time, or the second. Like Parker trying to rehab and come back, you just gotta keep trying, adjusting as you go.
It’s a grind, for sure. Seeing guys like Parker go through public struggles, multiple surgeries, trying to get back… it’s rough, but it’s also kinda real. Things don’t always go smoothly. Sometimes you put in all the work, and it still doesn’t pan out the way you hoped. You just gotta pick yourself up, figure out the next step, and keep putting one foot in front of the other. That’s the real practice, I guess.
