Gutierrez, who has ankylosing spondylitis, a rare inflammatory disease, threw out the first pitch. He will play in the Venezuelan Winter League next month to try to make it back to MLB.
Franklin Gutierrez’s daily routine has been drastically turned upside down.
For years, starting his major league career with Cleveland, then spending seven seasons with the Seattle Mariners, Gutierrez woke up thinking about baseball, whether it was participating in offseason workouts, or studying in-season scouting reports.
But midway through the 2017 season, after signing a one-year, $2.6 million deal to be the fourth outfielder with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Gutierrez had to walk away because of his ongoing battle with ankylosing spondylitis, a rare inflammatory disease.