Miami Marlins: What Happened to Austin Kearns?

July 17, 2012; Chicago, IL, USA; Miami Marlins left fielder Austin Kearns (26) reacts to hitting an RBI single during the fourth inning against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports

Since last season, Austin Kearns had provided a nice of the bench boost to any game he played in. While he certainly never lived up to the first round draft status he was given, he has not had a bad baseball career. The Marlins signed Kearns i 2012 and he played relatively well, given the circumstances of his position on the bench. I actually enjoyed what kind of player he was while with the team and it seemed that this year he would continue to thrive in his spot.

Through the first month or so of the season, he wasn’t very good. He was batting .185, but so were the Marlins basically. Then a few strange events began to happen to Kearns. On April 14th, he was checked into a hospital for an irregular heartbeat. He stayed over night for observation and then returned to the team like nothing had happened. It was certainly a strange event, but considering what would happen next, it almost seemed like foreshadowing. On May 5th, Kearns was placed on the bereavement list due to the fact that his mother had a heart attack. He stayed with her in his home state of Kentucky, but after a week he couldn’t continue to be on the bereavement list and he got transferred to the restricted list, although the Marlins did agree to continue paying Kearns his contract.

That was May, its the middle of June and there has been no news on what has happened to Austin Kearns.

While he wasn’t a vital part of the team, he was popular among his teammates and he provided a valuable veteran presence to the team. Austin Kearns seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth, but that’s probably a good thing. I don’t want to know what Kearns is dealing with because he is a human being and he deserves his privacy.

I really hope that he is doing well and that the situation he is in will get resolved. I do miss his presence on the team as he did provide a nice energy and experience to the game.

Here’s hoping that he returns to the team in some capacity, it doesn’t have to be as a player, and if he does, I’ll be the loudest one cheering him on.