I don't know of examples, but I'm sure there are plenty of them, in all sports. Anxiety and depression probably are as prevalent in athletes as they are with the general population, and add to that the natural pressures that athletes go through (at this level), and I'm sure there are many many examples of talented individuals who couldn't make it due to psychological reasons.Cronos69 wrote:I don't know much of a history with other players with similar sorts of troubles and/or how successful they were in making a comeback(unless you assume Rick Ankiel must have had some kind of depression/anxiety about pitching), so does anyone else know of any examples from baseball past?
Does this story suggest the idea that kids are being rushed to the big-time too quickly(he was brought up as a 20-year old and christened by just about everyone as someone who might be the savior of the Royals franchise) and being put under too much pressure?
I don't think anything has changed though that suggests that players are being rushed up too soon (as compared to the past). It's very difficult to identify psychological issues, especially since they are not well understood nor commonly discussed.
Was there a lot of pressure on the guy? Absolutely. Was the pressure what caused the anxiety/depression? I doubt it. My take is more that the anxiety/depression issues were already in him, and the pressures of being a baseball savior just brought them to the forefront in a very visible way.