Dan Haren reflects on his career during hilarious Twitter rant
Most of us will never know what it’s like to be a major-league pitcher. We’ll never know what it’s like step out on the mound in front of thousands of people, strike out a major-league hitter or face Albert Pujols with the game on the line.
Thankfully, former big league pitcher and three-time All-Star Dan Haren has our backs. Haren went on a Twitter tirade Monday, detailing some random thoughts about his career. It all started because he was bored while riding an exercise bike.
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Haren covered a lot of ground during his tirade. Some of it focused on the heights of his career.
Some of it revealed some inside information.
I only hit like 5-7 people on purpose.
— dan haren (@ithrow88) January 4, 2016
And some of it got a little too personal.
While those examples are revealing and hilarious, a large portion of Haren’s reflections focused on some of his fears and vulnerabilities during his final years in the majors.
Over his 13-year career, Haren was generally a pretty excellent pitcher. He posted a 3.49 ERA 1581 1/3 innings between 2005 and 2011. But, like many, he wasn’t the same guy at the end of his career.
Haren never really threw hard (as evidenced by his Twitter handle @ithrow88), so he had to deal with decreased stuff later in his career. His physical decline clearly had an impact on how he approached the game from a mental standpoint.
That self doubt was a major theme throughout his rant. Haren admits to grooving pitches down the middle of the plate during 3-1 counts hoping players would just pop up, says he counted days a month in advance to see whether he would have to pitch at Coors Field and adds that he gave up more home runs later in his career because he really didn’t want to walk people.
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The whole thing was an exceptional look into the psyche of a major-league pitcher just hoping to grind it out for a few years. Fans rarely get such an intimate glimpse into a player’s thoughts.
For that, we applaud Haren. Because of him, we have a slightly better idea of what it’s like to step out there on a major-league mound. And we appreciate that he didn’t hold back. Now that he’s retired, maybe he’ll have more time to go on Twitter rants in the coming months. After Monday’s revelations, we’re not going to miss whatever is next.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
