It is often said that professional athletes are born with the skill set to play their sport at the professional level. Becoming a professional athlete does not just happen overnight. The road to becoming a professional athlete starts at a young age, and when the moment finally happens, they realize how hard they worked to get to where they are. Now, becoming a professional is an incredible accomplishment, but receiving the call to reach the highest level is a feeling beyond becoming a professional athlete. Professional athletes Stone Garrett and Luis Hernandez lived the dream that only about 23,000 professional baseball players have. The dream that only around 23,000 professional athletes have lived is playing Major League Baseball.

Signed as a non-drafted free agent by the Atlanta Braves out of Venezuela, Hernandez made his Major League debut with the Baltimore Orioles before continuing his big league career with the Kansas City Royals, New York Mets, and Texas Rangers. On September 18, 2010, while playing for the Mets, Hernandez fouled a pitch off his right foot in the batter’s box, breaking a bone. Remarkably, he stayed in the game and hit a home run on the very next pitch before leaving with what became a season-ending injury.

On September 18, 2010, Luis Hernandez stepped up to the plate to face pitcher Tim Hudson. In a 1-0 count in the fifth inning with the Mets losing to the Braves 3-1, Hernandez fouled a fastball off of his right foot. “At the beginning, I was excited to be a part of the game. It was a time I had an opportunity to stay in the game. That year with the Mets, I was a backup player, and one day I happened to be in the lineup…It was painful, but I felt like I could still stay in the game. I remember at home plate the umpire was joking around. I told my trainers to let me stay in the game. Hudson threw the same pitch, and I hit the home run, but as soon as I took two to three steps, that’s when I felt the pain.”

When players get opportunities to play in the big leagues, pain can be played through for at least the time being. Hernandez said, “People asked me why I didn’t stop because I was in pain. I was running the bases, and I was thinking that if someone were to run for me, the home run would count for the player running for me. Once I knew I had run around the bases, I knew the home run would count. Once I got to the dugout, players carried me to the X-ray room, and that’s when we found out that it was a broken bone. It’s an experience I will always remember because I learned it when I was a kid. When we play hard every day and have passion to be a baseball player, we have to try to stay longer on the field to have fun, enjoy the moment, and be a good player for the future.”

The game was broadcast nationally on Fox. Play-by-play broadcaster Matt Vasgersian compared the moment to Kirk Gibson. After Hernandez rounded first base, Vasgersian said, “What the Kirk Gibson is going on!” The reason Vasgersian compared Hernandez to Gibson was that in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, Gibson came up to the plate to pinch hit in the bottom of the 9th inning and hit a walk-off two-run home run to beat the Athletics 5-4. Gibson had a pulled left hamstring and a swollen right knee, which resulted in him hobbling around the bases. It was a perfect line for a broadcaster to say since both baseball players hobbled around the bases.

Hernandez was then carried to the X-ray after circling the bases after the home run. Hernandez had a feeling it would change the rest of his season, but he also knew that by staying in the at-bat and running the bases, he would inspire his teammates. Hernandez said, “At that moment when I touched first base, sometimes we use these moments to let the guys know we’re there because we deserve the moment to play in the big leagues. When I ran around the bases, I wanted people to know I was ready to play and that I deserved to be there. I worked hard to be there, and I played for the team and deserved to be there.”

Hernandez did end up inspiring his teammates. Hernandez said, “I knew a couple of guys in the dugout who came up to me, and when I went into the clubhouse the next day, that’s when I saw Dillon. A couple of guys were checking in on me. Those kinds of things put something on each player to show the effort each guy puts in on the field. I had a special moment with these guys, and I remember that after the surgery, everyone took really good care of me. The organization helped me out really well and took care of my family as well.”

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Getting the opportunity to play in a Major League game is not too common. Injuries are often part of everyone’s journey getting to or at the professional level. Recovery is often one that changes the duration of an athlete’s career. After Hernandez’s surgery, it was time for his journey back to being the player he was when he earned his big-league opportunity. Hernandez said, “The surgery went really well. It took me nine to ten months to get back. When I got back to spring training the next year, I still wasn’t 100 percent, but I kept pushing myself…It was hard at the beginning because I always wanted to move around, but I knew I couldn’t do anything without healthy legs. By the end of spring training, I knew that I felt 100 percent. In my first game in Port St. Lucie, I fouled a pitch off my leg, and people in the dugout were laughing and saying, ‘ Don’t do it again and were expecting me to hit a home run on the next pitch. It was really special to get back on the field.”

Although Hernandez recovered from his injury, his opportunities to play were starting to get away. “It was tough because I don’t think I was the same player after that. It took me too long and a whole year to get back to who I used to be, but I didn’t steal too many bases, not because I was nervous, but I didn’t want to break bones anymore. I didn’t prepare myself well, and I ended up pulling my hamstring. In 2011, I got another injury that took me away for a month. It was a lot of hard times to get my leg back where I was, but I knew I was a different guy after the surgery.”

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Hernandez followed up and said, ​“Baseball is everything in the mind. People say it’s 70 percent mental and 30 percent talent. If you train really well and take care of yourself well, you can try and get around without an injury. Now, with protection, there are things that can prevent injuries, and there are things that players don’t have to worry about, but the most important thing is not to be afraid and to play your game hard, because you don’t know when it’s going to happen. If you don’t play your game 100 percent hard every day, it’s something you don’t know when injuries will happen. Never give up, play hard, and focus on what you have to do and try to be the best player every day.”

Eventually, it was time to hang up his cleats, and Hernandez was hired as a coach in the Kansas City Royals organization. ​“I started as a coach in rookie ball and then became a coach in Triple-A in Omaha with the Kansas City Royals. After COVID, I had the opportunity to coach with the Cincinnati Reds in the Dominican Republic, and now I am an international scout with the Reds, focusing on minor league development. It has been helpful in my career because both good and bad things happen. I believe baseball is in my blood, and it is what I love.” Not only does Hernandez continue to play baseball because it is in his blood, but he also does so for his country, Venezuela. His country, Venezuela, means the world to him. “It means a lot because a lot of young kids are trying to become professional baseball players. A lot of prospects are coming up from ages 16 and younger, and we’ve had many big league players start as prospects younger than 16.  It makes my country, Venezuela, very special. We see a lot of guys who are getting bigger and better every day in Latin America and even in the United States and outside the United States.”

Stone Garrett was drafted by the Miami Marlins in 2014 and made his Major League Debut with the Arizona Diamondbacks before signing with the Washington Nationals. On August 23, 2023, Stone suffered a left fibula fracture attempting to rob a home run hit by Yankees infielder D.J. LeMahieu. In 89 games that season in 2023, Stone had a .269 batting average with 9 home runs and 40 RBI. Over your last 11 games prior to the injury, you were playing some really good baseball. He was batting .378. With five doubles, two home runs, 11 RBI’s, and seven runs scored. “It was a good season. I was hot right before I got injured. It’s always fun when you can go on a streak like that at the highest level. I just remember I was on a high streak right before the injury.”

Yankee Stadium is one of the most historic stadiums a fan can attend to watch a sporting event, but actually playing on its field is an honor for every player who steps onto it. Garrett did just that and unfortunately suffered his significant injury at that very ballpark. When Garrett was asked about what was going through his mind after he made impact with the wall, he said, “I remember jumping into the wall, feeling my shin break, almost like snapping a pencil. Nothing crazy painful. I remember trying to get it and realizing I couldn’t walk. The cart guy almost flipped us over, and I went to the X-ray room. Aaron Judge walked in after he hit three home runs and said, “Man, I thought you had bunnies, and I said, Man, I don’t know what to say right now; my leg is in four different pieces.”

After the injury, Stone Garrett gained a few different perspectives. He said, One, Yankee Stadium really is a little league field; two, those things are going to happen. Just gotta push through and find a way back. Really, just be in the present. For me, I couldn’t walk; I had to relearn how to walk…Just live in the present and keep grinding. Put your head in the sand and keep going.”

Injuries are common in all sports, regardless of position or sport. While some injuries are preventable, many are not the result of freak accidents. Garrett was asked if his injury could have been preventable and said, “I don’t know, I think for me it was really just a freak accident. If there is anything, it would be putting a pad in stadiums like Wrigley Field, where it’s a brick wall, but I think mine, for a personal case, the percentage of it happening again is very small; it’s unfortunate that it did, but it’s a small percentage.”

401 days later, on September 26, 2024, Stone Garrett made his long-awaited return and went 3-for-4 with a two-run home run that went 431 feet in his first at-bat off Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Ranger Suarez. It was a moment Garrett will never forget. He said, “I blacked out; I remember battling that at-bat. I think he came in full count with a curveball. And then I hit, and I knew it was gone. I screamed and literally lost my voice for two weeks. And then I blacked out right before I hit first, and then I was screaming again right as I was rounding third. But it was a great game; I went 3-for-4. Honestly, it felt like a dream. The sky was purplish and reddish, with a light drizzle. I hadn’t been back there in a long time. The stadium was packed since we were playing the Phillies. As I came into the dugout, I hugged my teammates, and they understood what I was going through because many of them had battled injuries and knew what it takes to get back to performing at the highest level.”

The recovery process is not something one immediately thinks about when an injury one was expecting happens in the blink of an eye. “It was crazy. When I was planning my surgery, my mom told me to book her a one-way flight, said Garrett. “I told her that she can come for the surgery and leave in three days. She ended up staying for three weeks, and I needed her for everything during that time. It’s never one person accomplishing something. I would have never made it back without her support, so it was huge! Recovery is what gets anyone back to feeling 100 percent. Garrett said, ​” Pilates and clean eating- you really don’t want to eat highly inflammatory foods. I credit a lot of my recovery to Pilates. And my trainer, Harvey. He’s gotta be the best trainer out there; he is always very encouraging to get me back to walking and then running, so shout out to Harvey Sharman” (Washington Nationals executive director of medical services).

The following year, Stone Garrett took the opportunity to play in the Korean Baseball Organization for the Heroes. After he announced, towards the end of your contract with the Heroes, that he would be retiring from baseball, Garrett hit a grand slam in one of his last at-bats. It was another moment he would not forget. “It was cool. I was pretty sure it came in the last game. I knew I was done, man. My ankle was just a grind to go play nine innings and wake up the next day, feeling like a cinder block. So when I hit the home run, I was laughing to myself like I still had it. It was a cool feeling since all of my teammates knew I was done; a lot of those guys were older, so they knew what that really meant with the blood, sweat, and tears and all the sacrifices you make.”

In life, there are endless memories made, good and bad. Typically, in sports, there are more good memories than bad, particularly for Stone Garrett, who had many memorable moments. When asked about some of his most memorable moments, he said, “It was definitely the home run I hit when I came back. I think you can’t draw that up any better. Maybe if it were the first pitch, that would have been cooler. There were some in the minor leagues, and I was robbing some over the wall in Jacksonville. The grand slam in Citizens Bank Park. That’s always a good feeling, rounding the bases, hearing those boos, or hearing the stadium quiet.

While Luis Hernandez continued his path in baseball, Stone Garrett chose a different path and said, ​

I coach 13-, 14-, and 15-year-olds a couple of hours a week, and that is great because I can apply the knowledge I’ve gained to them, even though they are knuckleheads. That is all I really want, which makes me think how good a professional coach I would be. But as of now, that is really all I would want from playing baseball. Other than nights, I’m opening a Pilates studio. When I broke my leg, I had to do Pilates since I couldn’t really run. Last year, in 2025, I knew it would be my last year playing, so I looked around at the kinds of businesses I wanted to own. It’s February right now, so we are looking for a June opening date. I’m looking forward to that. You spend all these years playing professional baseball, and what makes the best teams is the best locker rooms, so I am looking forward to that right now.”

As for players entering professional baseball, some advice that he would give is “I always thought that if you pull a muscle, it’s probably preventable. I pulled my lat twice in my career, and I was probably neglecting core and abdominal work, but muscles don’t try to rob home runs or Tommy John. Just be smart about the body. Nobody gets a scholarship at 12 years old. It’s not worth it. Just be smart about the body. Get sleep; sleep is so important. Don’t go out there and consume all the sugars and all the sodas.”

According to Hopkins Medicine, about 30 million children participate in organized sports. 3.5 million of those kids get injured, resulting in time missed from playing. Hopkins Medicine also suggests that around 110,000 children between the ages of five to fourteen years old face baseball-related injuries. According to a 2024 ESPN article, baseball injury researcher Jon Roegele reported that 34% of Major League Baseball pitchers underwent Tommy John surgery in 2022 and 35% in 2023. Baseball is a different kind of sport than it was just a decade ago. Today, pitchers are throwing harder, and batters are hitting the ball harder. It is not a matter of asking why both are happening. According to an article written by TheMedium, “Major League Baseball (MLB) teams spent $486 million on players sidelined by elbow injuries, totaling 30,728 lost days of play. But the problem starts long before the professional level.”It is clear that athletes’ diets and workout plans are taken a lot more seriously than in the past.”

Luis Hernandez and Stone Garrett both had to overcome adversity to continue living their lives and pursue the dream that only about 23,000 people have ever experienced. Their stories are just a few examples of injuries that athletes experience but may not be comfortable discussing. Both Hernandez and Garrett did not let their injuries change the way they wanted to finish their playing careers. While it takes courage to come back and play, they did not let the tough days get the best of them. Both Garrett and Hernandez are thrilled to be in their positions today, while also continuing to inspire others who are attempting to reach professional baseball or to continue their success in it.