Not Only Was Cedric Mullins The Only MLB Player To Have A 30/30 Season, He Did It After Losing Over 10 Centimeters Of His Intestines And Lost Over 20 Pounds While Battling Crohn's Disease
As if Cedric Mullins' fantastic 2021 season wasn't impressive enough, a video came out yesterday explaining what he went through in 2020 and it's crazy that he was even able to play baseball. Mullins talked about the success he had in 2021, by far the best career of his life. All-Star starter in center field, the only 30/30 season in MLB, he really burst onto the scene after having a god awful 2019 and 2020. But now we know why he had issues in 2020.
During Spring Training he noticed some pain while going to the bathroom but didn't think much of it. Now this was also the same time teammate Trey Mancini was undergoing chemo and treatment for Colon Cancer, but Mullins initially thought it was just bad food poisoning, we've all been there. Spend some time on the toilet and move on with your day. Well that pain never went away. After the pain never went away it started to worry Mullins. He was being tested for everything, taking medicine and antibiotics just so he would feel right. Doctors were able to figure out that Mullins had an infection and that he should have been in so much pain he shouldn't have been able to stand up or run, and here he is trying to gut it out for an Orioles team that was finishing their season.
After the 2020 season Mullins had to have surgery where they removed 10-15 centimeters of his intestines and diagnosed with Crohn's disease. After the surgery Mullins developed an infection that caused him to lose 20 pounds. He's not a big guy at all, so that 20 pounds is significant. He had no idea what he would be able to do baseball wise in 2021, he had no clue if he could play, how well he'd play, or how he would feel. This is a guy who had two horrible years back-to-back, and now he's slapped in the face with this setback and Crohn's disease? He easily could have played the pity "woe is me" card and felt sorry for himself. That didn't happen, Mullins was named the center fielder for the Orioles and the rest is history.
Not only was he able to come back and play at a high level, a level that we've never seen out of him before, but he was named an All-Star starter, was the only player in the bigs with a 30/30 season, played Gold Glove Caliber defense and solidified himself as arguably the best center fielder in baseball last year. Again, he didn't know if he would be able to play baseball ever again, and then he goes out and has by far the best season of his life. No one in the world expected that season out of him, and we also had no idea what he was going through before the season. I can't explain how impressive it is that he was able to rebound like he did, both physically and mentally. If you're not a fan of this guy you're doing it wrong, Cedric Mullins is a flat out baller. A hard worker who trained his ass off and was able to get back into shape and showed us all what kind of ballplayer he is. I've heard being a normal 9-5 person with Crohn's disease is not fun, it's painful at times and an awful experience. I couldn't imagine going through the grind of an MLB player while also going through Crohn's and playing baseball at an extremely high level.
He also wanted to help spread awareness about Crohn's disease. If you think you have symptoms, go get it checked out. Don't do the tough guy thing where you put it off, get to a doctor, get checked out. Props to Ceddy for speaking up about his issues and what he went through.