It is a fall afternoon in 2016, and 21-year-old Carter Hope steers his Audi to a used-car dealership near Bixby, Okla. He is, in this moment, many things: A former professional baseball player who represents wasted talent; a son who can not hide his guilt and shame; a heroin addict fixated on his next high.



It has been two years since his life began to crumble, and just 12 months since the Kansas City Royals washed their hands of him. His body is frail, his skin a pale shade of white. He pulls the luxury car into a parking lot and walks inside.



For Carter, the Audi represents the final vestige of his previous life. He purchased it three years earlier, not long after receiving a $560,900 signing bonus from the Royals, the standard rate for a third-round pick. He would drive it for two seasons as a minor-league pitcher and a year as a junkie back home in Bixby. Now, he tells the men at the dealership that he needs a different car. Something cheaper.



He settles...