Former Yankees Prospect Ty Hensley Still Holds Out Holds Hope

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We all need a comeback story to take us into the weekend.

Ty Hensley was a first-round selection of the New York Yankees in the 2012 Major League Baseball draft. Just as everything was looking up, injuries put his entire career in doubt.

After continually getting knocked down to injuries and surgeries, Hensley considered leaving his dream behind not long after reaching it.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t,” Hensley said when asking if he contemplated moving on from baseball a series of injuries and Tommy John surgery in 2015.

“I think several times, probably most prominently after my — or when I found out I was going to have my second Tommy John surgery 13 months after my first one because I just knew in my head what that process entailed, like how long it was going to be. It was definitely going to be another year and that’s another year of my career that I’m going to miss and that’s another year that I’m kind of, for lack of a better word, I’m forgotten about.”

“The things that are keeping me alive aren’t working,” Hensley said in 2019.

In an emotional interview on Friday’s Pitch of Faith on Fox Nation, Hensley detailed the moment he realized his career was in jeopardy, along with the emotional toll it took on his family:

Once Hensley was able to play again, he was cut by the Rays and had to go back to the drawing board in the independent baseball. A step forward, but also backward.

“Independent baseball is kind of where I fell back in love with playing again. It’s where I rediscovered how fun it is to be out there in the field, just to play the game I played as a kid.”

Hensley says he was “pretty close to signing” with an MLB team last season but the deal fell through and he now awaits that chance.

Hensley’s comeback isn’t complete but the first steps, often the hardest, have been taken. As sports fans, the drive, resilience, and determination are what make sports so impactful. Notably, just last year with Alex Smith came back from an injury that threatened both his career and life.

Best of luck to Ty Hensley.