A few days later, he was sent out of camp. Big-league baseball had been taken away.

“I was like, ‘Oh, someone noticed. I got caught,’” Hicks said. “I let them down. You don’t want them looking down on you. You want to be equal. So, you have to act that way. They’re not just going to accept someone who doesn’t do what it takes to be professional. I was messing up. I was. But it formed me.”

ALL COMING TOGETHER

This past May, the Hicks family boiled crawfish for friends at their Houston-area home to thank them for helping the family recover from Hurricane Harvey’s damage. They set up a TV in the garage and tuned in the Cardinals game to see Hicks do what no one in this data-drenched era had: Throw a strike at greater than 105 mph. Sixteen of baseball’s fastest 21 pitches last season came off Hicks’ fingers; four of the top five did. Philadelphia’s Odubel Herrera and Hicks’ family watching back in the garage saw three of those in the same May 20th at-bat.

So did many peers.

“He’s got the type of arm that when you’re walking by the TV in the clubhouse and you hear he’s pitching, everybody stops and watches,” veteran lefty Andrew Miller said.