INSIDE THE GAME

Josh Ravin won’t forget that night in 2012 when he was called into his manager’s office. It was good news – the Cincinnati Reds were going to promote him to Double-A. But his manager had one question for him: “Have you got any (health) issues?”

The truth was his groin was bothering him. He’d tweaked it the night before but pitched through the pain without telling anyone. He certainly wasn’t going to bring it up now. Not when he was about to be promoted. Not when he’d just spent the first 12 weeks of the season recovering from an oblique injury.

So he lied, and he got his promotion.

“I can pitch through this,” he thought.

He didn’t want to go back on the disabled list, didn’t want to gain a reputation of being injury prone, and certainly didn’t want to miss any more time in the field. You only get so many chances in this game and if you stay off the field long enough, they’ll forget about you. Out of sight, out of mind.

Such is the pressure of advancing through the minor leagues. You’re always looking for ways to improve, ways to get noticed, ways to move up, all while competing against your own teammates to earn a spot at the next level.

The road through the minor leagues is a difficult one to navigate. The bus rides are long and uncomfortable, the crowds are small and the facilities are low-rent. And the salaries are much, much smaller than those in the majors. It’s enough to make a guy play through pain, or even lie about an injury. Such is life in the minor leagues.

‘I want it more than anything’

It was nearly three years ago that Ravin thought he could fool his body and his coaches into thinking everything was OK.

“I went home and iced,” says Ravin, recalling that night. “I was just icing it and icing it and just hoping. I kind of knew it wouldn’t (work) in the back of my mind, but I was just trying so hard to pretend it was. But it wasn’t worth pitching through.”