Guardians say goodbye to inspirational pitcher after Blue Jays move
Guardians say goodbye to inspirational pitcher after Blue Jays move originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
The news isn't new, but it took a while for the Cleveland Guardians to say goodbye.
About two weeks after Nic Enright signed with the Toronto Blue Jays , the Guardians took a moment for a farewell.
This is what the Guards posted on social media on Wednesday:
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Enright, a right-handed relief pitcher, signed a minor-league contract with the Blue Jays in late December.
He's an inspirational story. Less than three years ago, Enright was diagnosed with cancer, Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
Enright was a 20th-round pick in the 2019 MLB Draft out of Virginia Tech. His odds of making the big leagues as a 20th rounder were long enough.
But then in 2022, Enright was diagnosed with Stage II nodular lymphocyte predominant Hodgkin lymphoma.
Enright connected with Guardians great Carlos Carrasco , who had previously battled and beat cancer midway through his MLB career.
"It's very easy to kind of sit there [after being diagnosed] and feel very 'woe is me' and all that kind of stuff," Enright told MLB.com . "But [Carrasco] helped get me on the path of, 'Hey, I might have cancer, but cancer doesn't have me. I'm going to live my life as much as I can, do as much as I can.’”
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Enright underwent four rounds of immunotherapy in early 2023. He did another during the 2023 All-Star Break. Then it was three more in October 2023, then four more in late 2024.
He returned to pitching in April 2023.
Now, he's a member of the Blue Jays, and the Guardians have said their final goodbye.
