LA Angels Series Preview: Mariners return in AL West Rematch

Back and better than ever

There is no doubt that Andrew Heaney is a new man out on the mound. If you followed his injury story at the beginning of the season you probably read the many articles in which Andrew Heaney opened up about his emotional and mental struggles regarding his chronic elbow injury. That article was extremely heavy to read, Heaney was as lost as he could be; from waking up and hating his body for not being able to stay healthy to having thoughts of a life away from baseball. That kind of hurt is something that either helps a person grow in the best ways possible or change for the worst. It reminds me of Zack Greinke and his struggles with anxiety and depression which nearly pushed him away from game.

What happened after Greinke found help for his issues? He went on to fully embrace the depths of his talent and go on to win a Cy Young and become one of the most prolific starting pitchers in modern day baseball history. To be clear I’m not trying to state that Heaney will have a massive shift in career trajectory and win Cy Youngs, all I’m stating is that Heaney can finally grow into the pitcher he was always supposed to be as long as he has truly grown from his issues.

We as fans can’t really tell if he is still struggling with those intense issues that assaulted him at the beginning of the season, and to be honest he probably still is to some degree because struggles with anxiety and depression always find a way to linger about. Those things never really go away, you just become stronger by finding new ways to deal with them. This goes beyond baseball, everything Andrew Heaney opened up about is something the vast majority of us have dealt with to some degree. Some of us are dealing with the struggles of anxiety and depression right now and it that allows us better perspective into what others, like Heaney, struggle with on a day-to-day basis.

When those mental and emotional struggles turn into emotional turmoil it makes it nearly impossible for you to “feel yourself”, the difficulty in feeling like you are embracing the best version of yourself at every possible moment becomes astronomical. If Andrew Heaney is truly at a point where he is embracing the truest version of himself there is no limit to the success he can find on the mound. The Angels need more starters that can give them big time energy on the mound and there is no reason Heaney can’t be that guy if he can just be himself on the mound.

Regardless of any successes or failures from Andrew Heaney in the future all that matters is that he finds a way to fully embrace himself and bring peace to himself.