By JAMES MORAN | Tiger Rag Associate Editor
Alden Cartwright’s baseball career is over.
The veteran right-handed reliever announced as much through a twitter post on Monday afternoon. Cartwright had been in the process of rehabbing from surgeries to his pitching elbow and shoulder within the past calendar year. He was ruled out for the 2017 season before LSU began spring camp in January.
“I will always be the biggest LSU fan there is and I am forever in debt to this great university for all the life lessons and memories,” Cartwright wrote.
“As I graduate in May in enter the business world I will do everything I can to represent LSU with class and dignity.”
Cartwright underwent Tommy John surgery after tearing his UCL throwing a pitch at Auburn last April. While rehabbing from that surgery, he suffered a shoulder injury during the fall that required an additional procedure.
He informed LSU coach Paul Mainieri of his decision Monday. Mainieri confirmed the news in a brief phone interview with Tiger Rag.
“I can’t tell you that I’m surprised by his decision, and I fully support him moving on with the next chapter of his life,” Mainieri said. “We all have to come to grips with our careers being over at some point, and I’m sure in his case, knowing it was going to be difficult for him to rehabilitate two surgeries on his throwing arm at the same time, it probably made the decision a little bit easier for him.”
The coach continued: “I’m just grateful to have had Alden in the program. He was a big contributor and I think he maximized all of his abilities and he did a good job for us. He’s a very versatile guy and he pitched a lot of big innings. When he threw that pitch at Auburn last year and I had to go out to the mound and knew there was something wrong with his elbow, it broke my heart at that time. And when they decided they had to go in and operate on his shoulder, my gut feeling told me that may be the end of his baseball career. He kind of just confirmed that today.”
You can read Cartwright’s full message below:
I have decided to end my baseball career and start a new chapter in life. I have more to say than twitter allows, so I attached a note… pic.twitter.com/HraQyMKAgM
— Alden Cartwright (@ACartwright32) March 13, 2017
Be the first to comment