Aubrey Huff to attempt comeback after battling depression
Aubrey Huff isn't happy with how his time in baseball ended - with him slinking out of an otherwise joyous clubhouse at Comerica Park - so the 39-year-old will try to author a new epilogue to his career.
Back in 2012, Huff was too consumed by depression and anxiety to partake in the revelry that followed his San Francisco Giants' second World Series championship in a three-year span, but the first baseman has since conquered his mental health issues and is working towards a comeback.
"I'm realistic,'' Huff told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times on Monday. "I'm fully aware people will think this is crazy. That's fine.''
Huff, a fifth-round draft pick by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1998, hit just .192/.326/.282 (77 OPS+) in his final season with the Giants, but owns an .806 OPS over parts of 13 seasons in the majors. Huff insists his swing hasn't deteriorated, either, in the time he's spent overcoming the mental health issues that plagued him three years ago.
"Everyone else was celebrating, I had a belly full of Xanax, I was miserable, I couldn't care less, I was the first one out of the clubhouse,'' Huff said.
Huff, who posted an .891 OPS with 26 homers as recently as 2010, said he hopes to land an invitation to spring training and would relish an opportunity to play winter ball to prove he can still contribute. And, he added, he can envision himself returning to Tampa Bay, where he played 799 games and hit 128 homers from 2000 to 2006.
"I keep telling my trainer and my wife, for whatever reason I keep seeing myself in a Rays uniform.''