The doctors authorized Daniel Brito to attend Philadelphia Phillies Minor League spring training in Clearwater, Florida. That while he continues to rehab from his two brain surgeries. Reported this Thursday morning Matt Gelb of The Athletic.
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Next week would be the reporting date for Brito, after suffering a brain hemorrhage last July and undergoing two brain surgeries in less than 48 hours.
When the native of Ciudad Guayana began rehabilitation in October 2021, after overcoming a two-month coma, the goal was to have a normal life, get out of bed and fend for himself. By December he had already started running, taking some ground balls, running and lifting weights. Notably, the Phillies re-signed him to a lesser contract to maintain his health insurance while he was in an induced coma.
Brito evolves by leaps and bounds, astonishing his neurologists, therapists and anyone familiar with the case, which is why attending training has been a gift for him.
“Obviously I feel grateful to still be here,” says Brito, 24. “But I know I’m going to play.”
Brito’s physical therapist, Joe Hallock, is convinced that spring training could speed things up for Brito. Right now, he does his sports therapy exercises two or three times a week, but back in Florida (he lives in Ohio) he would have almost daily workouts with the Phillies’ physical therapy specialists.
“He’s definitely someone who feeds off the energy of the presence of others,” Hallock said. “You can tell he loves being around people.” Maton has sent text messages to his teammates who follow Brito’s progress with the short Instagram videos he posts.
“About a month ago, we were worried if this kid was going to live,” said Nick Maton, one of his Phillies teammates; “And he’s now pitching up front and working on his hitting mechanics.
“If there’s one guy who can do it, it’s him.”
