Striking out—it sucks! Striking out and then somehow losing all control of your limbs and wiping out in the dirt as you try to recover from a failed attempt to check your swing—that sucks more!
Xavier Avery, a 27-year-old in Triple-A who made his first and last major-league appearance five years ago, knows this pain all too well. Here he is earlier this week, in all his glory, as tweeted out by teammate Micah Johnson:
Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly and all that, yes, but that is textbook failing greatly.