26-year-old Atlanta Braves catcher, Evan Gattis almost didn’t make it to the Major Leagues.
During high school Evan excelled at baseball and was offered opportunities to play at a few different universities. He turned down the chance to play for Rice University, who had won the College World Series the year before, because he did not want to play 1st base. Evan instead signed a letter of intent to play catcher for Texas A&M.
That didn’t happen either though.
Evan failed a drug test and was sent to rehab, not college. Inpatient treatment for 1 month and outpatient treatment for 3 months. Evan was treated for alcohol and marijuana, but the issues ran much, much deeper.
Parents Divorce
When he was 8, Evan’s parents divorced. Like many young kids without a healthy way to deal with the pain from an event like that, Evan gravitated toward what he was good at doing: baseball. The sport served as an outlet for some of Evan’s pain, but the rest built up and lead to anger and depression that was left untreated for many years. In high school, Evan found alcohol and weed to cope with and to escape from the sadness and anger he had felt on a regular basis for so long.
Like many other young drug and alcohol addicts, Evan was treated for alcohol and drug addiction and depression. Two diagnoses treated at the same time, or dual diagnosis, helps millions of people understand all the symptoms they experience, not just the alcohol and drug addiction symptoms. Depression and alcohol often go hand-in-hand too, leading to a vicious cycle of treating one with the other, and then vice versa.
Getting Clean
Evan received appropriate care, and got himself clean.
When Evan left rehab he told his father that he would never play baseball again, and as it turned out, he was away from the game for 4 years.
His stepbrother’s baseball experience at University of Texas-Permian Basin reignited Evan’s passion for the game, and was where he finished out college. Evan was then drafted by the Atlanta Braves in 2010.
Evan Gattis overcomes drug addiction and depression, and a college-length amount of time away from baseball, to now have a chance to fulfill his dreams of the Major Leagues!
Blog Post By Andrew Sidoli, Clinical Director, Shadow Mountain Recovery
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