Arriving on the grounds of the Sundance Center in Scottsdale, Ariz., Nicky Delmonico knew taking the first step through the rehabilitation facility's doors was the reality he had to face if he ever hoped to fulfill his dream. Delmonico was a 22-year-old addicted to Adderall, the attention-deficit disorder drug he had been prescribed since high school. And without undergoing 45 days of treatment in February 2015, the rookie White Sox outfielder knows he never would be enjoying one of the best debuts in team history now. "I knew if I was going to get back into baseball, I needed to get myself right," Delmonico, 25, said Tuesday. "I dug down deep. Not only did I learn about the medicine and what it was doing to me, but I had to figure out what was going on in my life and get back to being myself." If that marked rock bottom for Delmonico, his descent began the previous summer when he was suspended 50 games by Major League Baseball. The July 2014 press release from the Commissioner's office announced Delmonico, a top 20 Brewers Class A prospect at the time, tested positive "for an amphetamine." The stigma weighed too heavy to bear. Delmonico feared the label of drug cheat would impede his path to the majors, his goal since he was a bat boy for the University of Tennessee, where his dad, Rod, coached from 1990-2007. He figured nobody would care to learn the real story; that he became conditioned to taking Adderall, which MLB had approved for medical purposes, but decided to come off the drug before the 2014 season so not to become overly dependent. Read more http://www.chicagotribune.com/sport...delmonico-haugh-spt-0823-20170822-column.html
