He’s a future baseball Hall of Famer, but he would have preferred to work in lawn mowing; he was a tennis prodigy, but he found it boring, he plays par golf, as long as he can play barefoot: at 39, Zack Greinke is in his last miles in major league baseball and he remains therefore few opportunities to see at work this launcher described as bizarre, misunderstood, detestable and socially clumsy, very clumsy.
In my book, Greinke is the most fascinating and misunderstood athlete on the planet. If you do not agree, wait until the end of this text to decide.
He suffers from social anxiety, which the Department of Health defines as “the fear associated with certain performance situations where he might feel observed, embarrassed, humiliated, rejected, or concerned about the judgment of others.” Imagine going through all that and having to work in front of 30,000 people seated in the stands.
Greinke came to major league baseball 19 years ago. Go back to that time. There was not the same public sensitivity regarding anxiety. Greinke was therefore mostly seen as a weird and hateful human being.
But over the years, fans have come to understand Greinke’s mental health issues better. He went from bizarre to endearing, from detestable to solitary, from abnormal to erudite.
Now, when fans yell at him that he suffers from anxiety, they get kicked out of stadiums. In 2004, everyone indulged without embarrassment to disgust him.
- In 2004, he played for the AAA school club of the Royals. His manager announces to him that he is promoted to the major leagues. He thinks for a long time and responds by asking if it is possible to send him to a lower level instead so that he is no longer a pitcher, but rather a shortstop player. He explains that he will become a good shortstop player. The manager struggles to understand his reaction, and tells him that he will realize his dream by going to the majors as a pitcher. Greinke snaps back, “Okay.”
- In 2005, he was considered baseball’s hottest prospect. First-round pick, he dominates in his debut. But it becomes difficult in his second year. He was diagnosed with social anxiety and depression. He said he considered giving up everything to start a lawn mowing company because he loves mowing the lawn and could manage his schedules. He is also thinking of becoming a professional golfer. But, even though he plays par, and barefoot, he doesn’t see the point of playing golf, because he’s not good enough to make a living out of it. Growing up, he was one of the best tennis players in the United States, but he found it stressful and not so pleasant. Greinke will eventually return to baseball after seeing medical professionals for his issues and he will begin to dominate again.
- In 2005, his team, the Royals, is rotten. Greinke goes to his coaches and tells them it’s not hard to hit though. He only throws, because a designated hitter replaces him when it’s his turn. But one evening, he has the chance to present himself with a stick and will succeed… a home run, eyes closed. Really! EYES CLOSED. Greinke established himself as one of the best batting pitchers of his generation. In 2013, he hit .328 with the Dodgers. He hit 9 career homers and won two silver bats, awarded to the best hitter at his position.
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- When Greinke joined the Arizona team in 2016, there were some singular additions to his contract, including 10 tons of premium guacamole. At the time, he created a controversy by denouncing that the extra guacamole in the Chipotle restaurant chain had gone up by 30 cents: “$1.50 is already expensive for guacamole. So they put it up to $1.80 and so I’m never going to have guacamole at that restaurant again. It’s not about the guacamole, I just don’t want to let them win,” he told the media candidly. Greinke has pocketed $330 million in his career, but he has often illustrated that he has a special relationship with money. The D-Backs also gave him a Blu-ray copy of the film. In the Shade of Shawshank since he had already mentioned, in all seriousness, to journalists that they had no right to write about him if they had not seen this film.
- Greinke is one of those who had no trouble adapting during the pandemic. He said he preferred when there were no fans in the stands. And during the match, he liked to go and sit alone in the stands instead of staying in the dugout with the players. Players have also said that he sometimes liked to sit alone, at the back of the dugout, and read magazines. Instead of training with his teammates in the gym in the morning, he sometimes arrives before everyone else, around 4:30 a.m., does his exercises and leaves when everyone arrives to go to a cafe to read the Wall Street Journal.
- In 2013, he played with the Dodgers, and the team was struggling. Manager Don Mattingly called everyone into the room to give a pep talk. Greinke, who never speaks, stood up to everyone’s surprise to ask the players, politely, to make sure to wash their hands when they go to do a number two in the bathroom and that he had noticed that some did not. didn’t always do.
- His catcher with the Dodgers, AJ Ellis, once came to the mound during the game to talk seriously about strategy, and Greinke then offered him a trade for his football pool.
- He once asked his pitching coach to come see him on the mound during a game to tell him that he thought it was an opportunity to throw a “cutter”. The coach reminded him that he didn’t throw that type of pitch. He replied that he could do it and did. His rapid was hitting 92 to 94 miles per hour, but one night he told his teammates he felt like throwing 100 miles per hour. He did it. He brought back into fashion the famous very slow curve called “eephus pitch” and invented in the 1940s. This throw was gone, but Greinke brought it back with a few curves to just over 50 miles per hour. To give you an idea, this is the throwing speed for 10-11 year olds.
- When he won the Cy-Young Trophy, awarded to the best pitcher, in 2009, he said he was not happy about it because it drew attention to him. He gave his trophy, and asked, the following season, about his off-season and his feeling of having won this prize, he replied that he did not care and that he was rather concentrated on playing the video game World of Warcraft.
Is Greinke always serious or was this a way to protect himself from attention due to his anxiety? No one knows. Even his teammates can’t tell. He’s always been like that. But one thing is certain, despite its challenges, it worked, its business. He had 2,943 career strikeouts. That puts it at 20e rank in major league history. He probably has his place in the Hall of Fame and the whole baseball world can’t wait to see what his speech will be.
Source: Sportskeeda, Baseball reference, Houston Press, The Athletic and MLB.com