Homer Bailey is back home. When he takes the mound against the San Diego Padres today, it will have been two years since Bailey has made a healthy major league start.
I’m guessing here, but serious injuries like his must be a massive disruption in the life of a professional athlete. Sitting out for that length of time has to be traumatic.
There’s the physical element of not being able to do what you could before. That’s part of it. The mental pain has to be worse. Professional athletes make a huge investment of time and energy over large spans of their lives to reach the pinnacle of their sport.