This wasn’t the news I wanted to hear today, unfortunately, but it seems that former Stanford player and Mets farmhand Sean Ratliff has retired from baseball after his struggles to recover from his facial injuries last season.

Ratliff has one semester left at Stanford, and after that he’s got his whole life in front of him. He’ll be armed with a wonderful degree, so he’ll definitely be able to conquer the world, but it’s always really depressing when a player’s Major League dreams are cut short.

Godspeed, Sean. We still believe in you and we’re very, very proud.

The last time I was in Binghamton for a game, which was about a year ago, I bought a game-used Sean Ratliff bat. I am now even more glad that I was impulsive and did.

I'm going to treasure this forever.