A Celebration of Kendrys Morales' Long Recovery to the Majors

A few seasons ago, Kendrys Morales looked like the future face of the Los Angeles Angels. In 2009, he batted .306 with 34 home runs and 108 RBIs. He finished 5th in the MVP voting. Morales was on pace for those numbers again in 2010 until the night of May 29th. Morales went from being the hero, after hitting a game-winning walk-off home run, to being the victim. When he reached home plate surrounded by his teammates, he did what thousands of baseball players before had done, he stomped on home plate.

The tragedy was that when Morales stomped something went wrong, and he fractured his left ankle. The break was pretty bad. The road to recovery was long and painful. Including spring training, the Angels played 322 games during Morales' absence. Today, Morales finally returned to the lineup for his first game against major league opposition. He went 2-3 with two singles.

Morales stated, "I've been two years out now and I'm feeling like I can be ready by Opening Day. I'm going to be really happy if I can." Fans across baseball would be as well. Morales was a great young talent. The injury was a freak one and an unfortunate one at that. Morales is a testimony to perseverance and never giving up. The road to recovery was long, but he endured the pain and trial that came with it. For that, I tip my hat to you, Kendrys Morales.