SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — There were 59 players in the Rockies clubhouse to begin spring training. Every one of them has a story, but it’s hard to top Mike Dunn’s.
Last fall, the veteran left-hander feared that his baseball career was over, at age 33.
Through the first half of the 2018 season, he put on a brave face and tried to keep pitching, but the pain in his shoulder and upper back was overwhelming. His season ended in late July and he thought he might never pitch again.
Perhaps even more disconcerting, his love for a game he’d played since he was 5 years old was vanishing.