Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco announces he is fighting leukemia, hopes to pitch again in 2019

Cleveland Indians starter Carlos Carrasco told a Dominican TV station on Friday that he has leukemia, but plans to pitch again this season.

“At the end of May, they shut me down because they saw something wrong with my blood,” Carrasco told CDN 37 in Spanish. “The doctors got a little worried and they sent me for a blood test, another blood test. The blood levels were off, the platelets were really high.

“The following week, my wife and I went to the hospital, and they told us I have leukemia. That’s one of the reasons why I’m not playing right now, but I’ll be back at the end of July.”

Carrasco had been diagnosed with a blood condition last month and hasn’t pitched since.

In a video posted to the Indians’ Twitter account Saturday afternoon, Carrasco said, “I never thought that I’d have something like this. Because I play baseball, I’m super-healthy or something like that — but you never know what’s going on inside your body.”

The video also showed clips of Carrasco spending time with pediatric leukemia patients at the Cleveland Clinic.

“This is going to make me stronger than I’ve ever been.” – Carlos Carrasco

Stay #CookieStrong. We ❤️ you! pic.twitter.com/KokfX0wayr

— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) July 6, 2019

Leukemia is a type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow. Carrasco didn’t specify the form of leukemia he is dealing with, but many are treatable.

Carrasco, 32, has been one of the league’s most consistent pitchers in recent years, going 68-43 with a 3.27 ERA from 2014 to 2018. He had a 4.98 ERA in 12 starts this season before being shut down.

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