As part of our mandate to keep an eye on the world of testicular cancer, we often hear about athletes who are battling the disease. For some reason, a disproportionate number of them seem to be baseball players, although we’re not going to attempt to draw any kind of correlation between America’s pastime and ball cancer. The latest player to battle the disease is Connor Joe, who plays for the Los Angeles Dodgers’ minor-league team.
Joe played college ball at the University of San Diego and was drafted by the Pirates in the first round of 2014’s draft. He then knocked around a couple different teams, including the West Virginia Power and the Atlanta Braves’ minor team, before being traded to Los Angeles in 2017. He spent some time with the Giants in their main team, but struggled and was traded back to the Dodgers. He’s a solid player but has simply never had a chance to shine on the diamond at a high level.
Connor Joe left spring training a few weeks ago, and now we know why. He posted on Instagram that he was diagnosed with testicular cancer and required surgery.