Photo courtesy of Stratford Booster Club
Storey spent eight days in the hospital.
Originally Appeared on VYPE
Almost dying multiple times within a few days is not a common problem for the average sixteen year old, but, if you know anything about Adrian Storey, you know that was the norm for a time in his life.
August 28th, 2018 started out as a normal Tuesday, as it would for any teenager. Storey was in his baseball class period, running sprints with his teammates. And then his life changed forever.
"Out of nowhere, I saw this blinding, white light," said Storey. "I had collapsed, but I didn't know it. It was like falling asleep."
That was his description of one of the most dramatic and heart-stopping events (literally and figuratively) that would happen in the 2018-2019 school year. He had collapsed, blacked out and started convulsing and seizing. Coach Keith Humphreys immediately took action, sending students for the AED and athletic trainers.
Junior Carson Dodds also recounts the experience.
"I just remember running and then seeing Adrian collapse," he said. "He started seizing on the ground and his face went completely purple. That's when Coach Humphreys checked his breathing and started CPR. It was a really scary experience."
There were no pre-existing conditions. No signs that could've prepared everyone for what was happening. Out of nowhere, he was down.
Athletic trainers Melissa Quigley and Marrianne Landon acted quickly and efficiently, enacting the emergency action plan.
"Landon was the first to get out there," said head trainer Melissa Quigley. "She brought the AED, attached it to [Storey] and, at that point, he regained consciousness."
"I woke up and my vision was blurry, and then I felt the AED on my chest," said Storey. "I was super confused. But, after my vision cleared, I was able to stand up, walk onto the stretcher and wait for the ambulance in the training room. It was almost like nothing had happened. I felt completely fine."
From the ambulance, he was taken to Memorial Hermann hospital, where doctors performed tests. After a few hours, they released him, citing dehydration as the issue. He was given strict restrictions: no practicing for at least three weeks. The next morning, Storey hardly noticed the nervous chatter about his accident from the sophomore class.
The story continues here
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There's no denying that this year's World Series champs (LA Dodgers) have some serious firepower on their roster. And one of the ways they were able to assemble such a talented team involved players like Shohei Ohtani being willing to differ their money.
Just this week, there was some speculation that the Yankees could do something similar when restructuring Gerrit Cole's contract, that would allow them more flexibility in the present.
The Yankees ended up calling Cole's bluff about opting out, and no adjustment was made to the contract.
But this situation got us thinking, would the Astros consider a tactic like this to maximize the roster? At this point, it doesn't seem all that likely. Just last year, the team handed out a $95 million contract to Josh Hader, without any differed money.
The other factor that also has to come into play is the tax threshold. The organization would have to give the okay to go over it again in order to make a splash signing this offseason. Which unfortunately does not sound like the plan right now when listening to GM Dana Brown at the Winter Meetings.
Astros pitcher hires a new agent
Now that MLB free agency is in full swing, most of the attention moving forward will be focused on players like Alex Bregman, Pete Alonso, and Juan Soto.
But for Astros fans, there might be someone else to keep an eye on this offseason and next. Starting pitcher Hunter Brown quietly hired super agent Scott Boras recently.
With Brown still another season away from his first year of arbitration, he should be with the Astros for the foreseeable future.
However, the hiring of Boras does raise some interesting questions. Why make the move now? Certainly, Brown could use some more cash, as he's set to make less than a million in 2025.
Perhaps Brown wants to land some HEB commercials to fatten his wallet. And if Bregman does leave the team in free agency, a spot will open up for another player, in theory. And three of the players in the HEB ads are represented by Boras (Jose Altuve, Lance McCullers Jr. and Bregman).
Jeremy Pena has been stacking cash from Taquerias Arandas for several years now, maybe Brown would like an opportunity to do an endorsement similar to that.
I say all this half kidding, but Brown does look like the future ace of this staff, and I'm sure there are plenty of advertisers that would have interest in Hunter.
There is another element that could have initiated the hiring of Boras. Would Brown be willing to sign an extension early with the Astros similar to the deal the team made with Cristian Javier?
Their situations are actually pretty comparable, except Javier was one year further into his career (3 years of MLB service time) and eligible for arbitration before agreeing to the extension.
If Brown was heading into arbitration this offseason, it wouldn't be surprising at all for the Astros to be considering a long-term deal with him that buys up all his arbitration years. The 'Stros love these types of contract extensions. We've seen them do it with Bregman, the aforementioned Javier, and others.
One of the main differences though between Brown and Javier is their rookie year numbers. Brown only pitched 20.1 innings in his first season (2022). While Javier pitched 54.1 innings his rookie year. However, his rookie season was in 2020, so Javier completed a full year of service time despite the shortened season. Whereas Brown didn't get called up until September 2022.
Another difference is performance. Javier never posted an ERA over 3.55 in his first three seasons. As opposed to Brown, who had a disastrous year in 2023. He made 29 starts, recording an ERA over 5.
It wasn't until May of 2024 that Brown started using his two-seam fastball with great success and becoming one of the most dominant pitchers in the American League.
The Astros had a bigger sample size to judge Javier. However, if Brown has another quality season in 2025, Houston and Brown should definitely be having conversations about an extension. Especially with Framber Valdez being in the final year of his contract in 2025. Hunter could be the unquestioned ace one year from now.
Still, though, there are some concerns with handing out these early extensions. For example, if the Astros had it to do over again, would they still extend Javier?
After receiving his extension before the 2023 season, he went on to post the highest ERA of his career (4.56), and then blew out his elbow in May 2024.
And if we're going by Luis Garcia's recovery timeline from Tommy John surgery, we may not see Javier pitch at all in 2025.
So even with a sample size of three terrific seasons, the Javier extension looks like a miss with the benefit of hindsight. It will be interesting to see if that deal impacts Dana Brown's decision-making going forward.
Especially since Javier was Dana's first big contract extension as the Astros GM.
Be sure to watch the video as we discuss how the Astros can get the most out of their roster, the pros and cons of signing Hunter Brown early, and much more!
*Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcasts. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo discuss varied Astros topics. The post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon. Find all via The SportsMap HOU YouTube channel or listen to episodes in their entirety at Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
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