Baseball

Rockies Pitcher Returns to Baseball After Cancer Treatment

By Jason Romano Jul 20, 2017
Chad Bettis throws a pitch or the Hartford Yard Goats in a rehab assignment on Tuesday July 18, 2017 in Hartford, CT. (Photo Courtesy: Yard Goats)

Colorado Rockies pitcher Chad Bettis has taken his first few steps in beating testicular cancer and returning to pitch in the Big Leagues.

Last Friday, pitching with the Hartford Yard Goats (Class AA), Chad pitched 2 innings, throwing 31 pitches, giving up no runs, and striking out 3 batters.

Last night, in his second rehab start, Bettis pitched another 2 2/3 innings, throwing 46 pitches, giving up 3 hits, 1 run and striking out 3 batters.

“It was exciting, it’s been a long time,” Bettis told the Hartford Courant. “I felt really good, felt strong through it all. I felt like I could have gone back out there for the third.”

ICYMI from our trip to ESPN yesterday. Hear about Colorado Rockies pitcher Chad Bettis return to the mound! #TogetherForBettisTickets still available: http://www.milb.com/tickets/singlegame.jsp?sid=t538#game=497877

Posted by Hartford Yard Goats on Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Bettis, 28, led the Rockies in wins last season going 14-8 with 138 strikeouts and was expected to be one of the top starting pitchers on the team coming into the 2017 season before his cancer announcement on March 10.

In March, after the diagnosis, he immediately began chemotherapy, a treatment that concluded on May 16.

“It was definitely difficult hearing that news. We thought he had beaten it already,” Chad’s wife Kristina said. “But we remained calm, put our faith in God and knew that he could bring us through this — and he did.”

In the midst of a cancer diagnosis, Chad and Kristina began to prepare for another journey.

Parenthood.

On March 29, nine days after Chad began chemo, Kristina gave birth to the couple’s first child, a daughter named Everleigh Rae.

From the moment Bettis announced his diagnosis, he’s expressed his commitment to not only beat cancer, but that to return to baseball very soon. His last 2 minor league stints in Hartford have given every indication that he’s well on his way back to Denver soon to pitch for the Rockies.

“You go through trials and tribulations, you don’t know how that is going to test you,” Bettis told ESPN recently. “Your faith, your family, your friendships. To have the help and support that I’ve received from everybody throughout this thing, I wouldn’t be the same person that I am today.

Chad’s twitter bio mentions the verse Romans 8:18, where the apostle Paul states: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”