Devin Taylor and Ryan Lasko both dove for the same fly ball on June 30, and their heads collided as they chased it down at Frisco, Texas. Lasko, a 24-year-old outfielder for the Athletics’ Double-A affiliate in Midland, failed to rise after the hit.
His neck was broken, with his C6 and C7 vertebrae cracked and crushed, leaving him paralyzed. He required immediate surgery to relieve pressure on his spine and stabilize it. The 5-foot-11, 190-pound athlete, celebrated for giving his all, was brought back to New Jersey on a stretcher. His mother and his girlfriend, Alli Graff, sat beside him through it all.
The Play That Changed Everything
A routine play turned into a collision when Lasko and Taylor both ran toward the ball at the same time. Neither of the two players anticipated what followed.
Patti and James Lasko sat in the stands and watched as the crash happened before their eyes. They then saw him lying motionless on the ground. That moment altered their lives within seconds.
The Hospital Stretcher Ride Home
It took Lasko more than two weeks to get through the hospital stay, and then he was flown back to New Jersey. When he arrived, he came on a stretcher, with his mom and Graff there beside him.
“I think that’s the part that made it worse for me, because they saw it in person,” Lasko told The Associated Press in his first interview since the accident. “Because I think everyone’s just used to me getting up.”
A new reality began with his arrival. No longer able to chase after a ball on his feet, he was instead learning how to move from bed into a wheelchair.
Therapy at Kessler Institute
Over a period of two months at Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation, Lasko worked through hundreds of repetitions to gain control over functional tasks on his own. Every tiny motion required effort from him.
“I kind of explained it a lot as like a death, that’s what it feels like to me,” he said. “So I feel like I’ve gone through the whole grieving process.”
Lasko refers to any sensation in his legs or feet as “big wins.”. His box of baseball equipment reached his parents’ home on July 16, and his mother brought up “small wins.”. The staff encouraged him to regard those as major triumphs.
The Doctors Weigh In
Dr. Jeremiah Nieves has watched over Lasko from the beginning, and he thinks the young man has made significant progress in a short time thanks to his sports background.
“This is just the early phase. I have a ton of optimism for him but that has to be tempered with a little realism,” Nieves said.
Being an elite athlete “started him off in a different place compared to most folks. … By no means are things easy for him but you see that elite athlete (in him) every day.”
The Support Around Him
On the night of the injury, A’s have supported Lasko throughout the ordeal. Prompt assistance came from the Texas Rangers’ medical staff were present, and staff throughout the organization’s farm system continued to provide care.
Medical costs surrounding the work-related injury will be covered under Major League Baseball’s insurance program for the rest of Lasko’s life.
Every night at Kessler, Graff slept on a mattress placed beside his bed.
“I told her to leave a bunch and she won’t leave,” Lasko said. “So to have that, I remind her a lot I couldn’t have made the progress without her.”
They call this challenging time their “new normal.”
“I would do absolutely anything,” said Graff, 23.
Graff helped Kessler’s training for care partners to assist in Lasko’ with his everyday routine, working to restore his ability to live on his own again.
The Return to School
Rutgers will see Lasko again in the spring, when he intends to complete his criminal justice degree while also earning a minor in psychology.
He always knew baseball wouldn’t last forever, but didn’t anticipate it being taken from him this way.
The quote “It’s difficult to see it fade away, but I’m still holding onto it, that maybe one day I can get back to that.”, which opens the piece, sets a tone of doubt and uncertainty about what comes next. It frames the whole passage with a sense of hesitation and questioning.
He added later: “I can do more with my life now.”
The Clap-Out Sendoff
Kessler’s daily therapy sessions for Lasko lasted roughly three hours, which was about the same length as a standard sporting match.
“It’s just how I’m wired, it doesn’t make sense for me to not go through with something,” he said.
He has faced rough periods and hard days. He would fall into what he calls a “sorrow state,” caught up in waves of frustration — “I can’t control what my body wants to do” — until Graff or the Kessler staff stepped in to help him.
“I’ve kind of experienced through this the lowest point of my life and somehow come out of that and not let myself kind of fade into just giving up … and being OK with how I am, because I’m not,” he said.
He said it, noting he has “to stack up the small moments … that’ll hopefully eventually lead to what I in the end want.”, “I’m fully confident that I’m going to walk again. I’m fully confident that I’m going to be able to do a lot of things in life that I was able to do,”.
If Lasko can inspire someone — “even if it’s just one person” — dealing with a life challenge through his perseverance, he’ll count that as another big win.
Many times when he had no desire to get up and move, it was a matter of demanding his own attention that got him through the day.
A great many of those who were present for him offered a “clap out” as Lasko departed Kessler on Sept. 16, two months after his arrival, leaving Kessler in a wheelchair.
“What in the world?” he said. “I’m getting out of here as fast as I can.”
From now on, Lasko would be coming to K
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| June 30 | Collision at Midland game in Frisco, Texas |
| July 16 | Box of baseball equipment arrives at parents’ home |
| Sept. 16 | Left Kessler in a wheelchair |
In an instant, a crash ended his sporting career. He has not sat still since.
Source material: “A's prospect Ryan Lasko works to recover after neck injury and being paralyzed in outfield collision,” ABC13 Houston.
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