Drew Robinson, 29, makes San Francisco Giants’ Triple-A roster after losing eye in 2020 suicide attempt.
The following written content by Jeff Passan
Drew Robinson, who lost his right eye in a suicide attempt last year, made the opening day roster for the San Francisco Giants’ Triple-A affiliate and could play as soon as tomorrow, when the Sacramento River Cats open their season with a six-game series in his hometown of Las Vegas.
Robinson, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Giants over the winter, six months after he shot himself in the head. After a harrowing 20 hours that followed the attempt and more than a year of rehabilitation, a late-spring surge in Robinson’s performance during minor league spring training persuaded the Giants to place him one step from the team with the best record in the National League.
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to fully describe how excited I am for these next six games, but I know that this is going to be another powerful experience, and I’m so ready for it,” Robinson told ESPN on Wednesday. “Our game isn’t even until tomorrow, but I already had a hard time staying asleep last night because of how excited I am for these games and this experience as a whole.
“After going through most of my life not fully appreciating what was happening, I can promise that I’ll be taking in every second of this season with a new understanding of how special all of this is.”
Robinson’s family, friends and doctors will gather at 7:05 p.m. PT Thursday at Las Vegas Ballpark, where Robinson spent much of the offseason taking live batting practice — and hit his first home run since he began his comeback attempt. His work at the stadium, just 2 miles from the house where his suicide attempt took place, convinced Robinson that his desire to play baseball again could be a reality.
He began the spring playing shortstop, a position he hadn’t regularly manned in nearly a decade, and struggled to adapt to its speed. When the Giants moved Robinson to the outfield, where he played the majority of his 100 games with the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals from 2017 to 2019, his comfort returned. Read more from ESPN.
