Atlanta Braves: Sean Rodriguez working to get back on the field in 2017
After a horrifying car crash looked to sideline Sean Rodriguez for all of 2017, he is still holding out hope that he can play for the Atlanta Braves this season.
One of the scarier off-the-field occurrences over the winter was when we learned that Sean Rodriguez and his family were involved in a car accident after they moved to Atlanta when the free agent inked a two-year, $11 million deal with the Braves.
Luckily, Rodriguez, his wife and kids all survived, even though his wife recently just started to move on her own without a wheelchair, according to Stephen Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The Atlanta Braves’ new utility man did suffer a shoulder injury in the accident and was expected to miss the entire 2017 season while he recovered.
Now, even though Rodriguez opted to stay with the team instead of going to Florida to rehab, the 32-year-old jack-of-all-positions player remains optimistic that his season isn’t over. In his time talking to Nesbitt, Rodriguez seemed like he was determined to overcome the odds.
"“They’re expecting me to be out the whole year, and I’m not,” said Rodriguez, who reported his rehab is running ahead of schedule. “I told them that from Day One, ‘I’m going to be back. Don’t count me out just yet.’ ”"
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According to Nesbitt, he currently rehabs with the Atlanta Braves medical staff from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day at SunTrust Park. This type of determination from both the Braves staff and Rodriguez himself is uplifting, but it’s something that the veteran couldn’t do without support from other places as well.
Rodriguez said that the support from his former club has been “through the roof.” He emphasized to Nesbitt that “every last one of them” dropped what they were doing and asked, “Do you need us to fly out there?”
It’s great that the Atlanta Braves signee has received support from so many different people and he’s certainly leaving no stone unturned now that he has put the events of the offseason behind him and is looking forward to getting back to playing the game he loves.
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What do you make of Rodriguez’s potential return to the Atlanta Braves? Let us know in the comment section below.
(All quotes come from Stephen Nesbitt’s article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.)