Earlier today, the Royals announced that AA pitcher Danny Duffy will be taking a leave from baseball. They didn't say how long or why, but some have reported that it is because he has lost his love for the game and wanted to reassess his life.
This is discouraging for Royals fans. Duffy, ranked as a top 10 prospect in the Royals system by most outlets, is 22 years old. My guess is that the kid just wants to pursue other options. I can't blame him. As much as I want to be mad at him and pull the whole "every boy and man in America would kill to be in your position" argument, I just can't.
Danny is only a year younger than I am. I've been blessed to live the typical college life. I was in a fraternity, I drank, I made stupid decisions, made tons of friends, ate Top Ramen five times a week, etc. Meanwhile, Danny was riding buses all over the Midwest, living off of $20/day, eating fast food for every meal and trying not to give into the temptation of blowing his nearly half a million dollar signing bonus.
The point is, maybe Danny wants what I had. Lord knows I want what he had. Sure college life isn't glamorous, but it isn't supposed to be. Its what normal kids do when their away from their parents with little to no rules. Who cares what he wants though? I could've played ball in High School, who knows maybe I would have been great and got drafted in the first 5 rounds, got hundreds of thousands of dollars and a couple of months later was living in Arizona, away from my friends and family, knowing that my life would be miserable for the next few years until I MAYBE got to the big leagues. Meanwhile, I've got a half a million bucks sitting in some bank account somewhere that is just begging to be spent on stupid stuff that a 22 year old doesn't need.
My point is, give the kid a break. At 18 years old, he was thrown into a man's world, with out the buffer of college. He should do whatever he wants to do.
