Chris Davis

Daniel Espino went 1,240 days without pitching in a professional baseball game. Today he walked into the sixth inning of a one run ALCS game and held it for the Cleveland Guardians. His father never got to see any of it. Here is the whole thing. He grew up in Panama City, Panama. At 15 he left and moved to Georgia with a travel baseball program, and he stayed. He finished high school there. His senior year he went 9-0 with a 0.32 ERA. He committed to LSU. Cleveland took him 24th overall and handed him 2.5 million dollars instead. Then his right shoulder came apart. They repaired the capsule in his throwing shoulder. Then they went back in and did the capsule again, plus the rotator cuff. Across four seasons he pitched in FIVE games. 1,240 days between them. More than three years of rehab in Arizona. And somewhere in the middle of all of it, his father passed away. Here is who his father was. His name was Danilo Espino. He was a doctor for 30 years. Ulcers and diabetes. In Panama they called him the "doctor de manos milagrosas." The doctor with the miracle hands. Because he kept people from losing their legs and feet. He was on chemotherapy for prostate cancer when he called Daniel to say he was going in for tests. Daniel had a flight home booked for the day before Thanksgiving. The family could not reach him in time. Here is what Daniel said about him. "Obviously, it was devastating, because he was not only my father, but my best friend." He says that during the second shoulder surgery, his father was in the operating room with him. "It hurts, but I know that he's up there watching me." He got back on a mound in September of last year. He got to the big leagues in June. First inning of his career, he struck out the side. The radar read 100. His mother was in the stands. The cameras found her after the first strikeout. He said he blacked out. "I just felt like a kid and went out there and attacked the zone and gave my best." And then this. "I feel like for the last couple years everything has been bad news. Now, we're seeing kind of the good side of it." Here is what Cleveland thinks of him. In the ALDS they went down 2-0 to the Chicago White Sox. Win or the season was over. They gave him the ball to start Game 3. His manager, Stephen Vogt: "What Daniel's been through, there's nothing that's going to rattle him or shake him." Espino: "I'm prepared for this moment." Today, against the Tampa Bay Rays, he came into a one run game in the sixth and gave up nothing. 12 pitches. Cleveland won 3-2. They lead the series 2-1. Now the honest part. He is not the ace. He had a 5.30 ERA at Triple A this season. But a kid who left Panama at 15, and lost 1,240 days, and lost his best friend, is throwing 100 in October. And his dad is the reason he throws it.