Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco has revealed that the blood condition that has left him sidelined is leukemia.
Carrasco has been on the injured list (non-baseball, medical) since June 5, when the Indians released a statement saying he had been diagnosed with a blood condition. At the time, the team said it would wait for Carrasco to decide when and how he felt comfortable sharing any additional details.
Carrasco first revealed the diagnosis to Dominican Republic news station CDN 37. The Indians' official Twitter account later tweeted a video of Carrasco speaking about his diagnosis.
"In May, we found out I had leukemia," Carrasco said in the video. "I never thought I'd have something like this, because playing baseball, I'm super healthy, but you never know what's going on inside your body. When I found out, it made me even stronger. I pushed myself to work through this. I have a lot of people behind me helping me, especially my teammates and family and a lot of people around me making me stronger every day."
The Indians held a team meeting with Carrasco present on June 4 to discuss the situation. Manager Terry Francona noted at the time that they talked about Carrasco's baseball family, but no baseball. Jordan Luplow said the meeting had put things in perspective.
The original team statement also noted that the Indians weren't sure when Carrasco would return to pitching, only that he'd be stepping away from the mound to seek information and treatment options, and that he had their blessing to do so. In the interview with CDN 37, Carrasco relayed that the condition is being treated and is under control, and his hope is to be able to return to pitch this season.
The video posted by the Indians' official Twitter account also noted that Carrasco has been spending time with pediatric leukemia patients at the Cleveland Clinic and speaking with kids dealing with their own diagnosis.
"This is going to make me stronger than I've ever been," Carrasco said at the conclusion of the video.
On Saturday, the Indians were using the hashtag #CookieStrong on Twitter. Teams around baseball followed suit, adding their support for Carrasco with the same hashtag.
