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Guardians say goodbye to inspirational pitcher after Blue Jays move

2026-01-15 00:53
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Guardians say goodbye to inspirational pitcher after Blue Jays move

Cleveland took a little while to bid him adieu.

Guardians say goodbye to inspirational pitcher after Blue Jays moveStory byBilly HeyenThu, January 15, 2026 at 12:53 AM UTC·2 min read

Guardians say goodbye to inspirational pitcher after Blue Jays move originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The news isn't new, but it took a while for the Cleveland Guardians to say goodbye.

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About two weeks after Nic Enright signed with the Toronto Blue Jays, the Guardians took a moment for a farewell.

This is what the Guards posted on social media on Wednesday:

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Enright, a right-handed relief pitcher, signed a minor-league contract with the Blue Jays in late December.

He's an inspirational story. Less than three years ago, Enright was diagnosed with cancer, Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

Enright was a 20th-round pick in the 2019 MLB Draft out of Virginia Tech. His odds of making the big leagues as a 20th rounder were long enough.

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But then in 2022, Enright was diagnosed with Stage II nodular lymphocyte predominant Hodgkin lymphoma.

Enright connected with Guardians great Carlos Carrasco, who had previously battled and beat cancer midway through his MLB career.

"It's very easy to kind of sit there [after being diagnosed] and feel very 'woe is me' and all that kind of stuff," Enright told MLB.com. "But [Carrasco] helped get me on the path of, 'Hey, I might have cancer, but cancer doesn't have me. I'm going to live my life as much as I can, do as much as I can.’”

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Enright underwent four rounds of immunotherapy in early 2023. He did another during the 2023 All-Star Break. Then it was three more in October 2023, then four more in late 2024.

He returned to pitching in April 2023.

Now, he's a member of the Blue Jays, and the Guardians have said their final goodbye.

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