After an outfield collision left him paralyzed, every gain in rehab is a big win for A’s Ryan Lasko

West Orange, N.J. — Ryan Lasko threads his near‑mediocre digit through a loop attached to his sneaker. His gaze reddens as he locates the spot to slowly propel the limb across his body to the opposite side of the therapy table. He is exhausted. Those legs that once powered Lasko to sprint down the baseline for the Athletics now must be lifted by hand. He repeats the motion again and again, summoning the vigor he can muster, mastering skills that will allow him to move from furniture to wheelchair and back. “That’s a time successful the beingness close there,” the 24‑year‑old said. “It’s precise strenuous.” Months earlier, Lasko was a promising outfielder on a path he hoped would one day make him a major leaguer—a 2023 second‑round draft pick who had established himself in Double‑A ball. Speed and defense were his top assets. Baseball America described how he “gets to balls done sheer volition and occasional disregard for his assemblage as he crashes into the outfield partition or makes diving catches.” Everything changed in an instant on June 30 during a routine play he had executed hundreds of times. Lasko, playing center field for the A’s Midland squad in a road game at Frisco, Texas, sprinted toward the ball as right‑fielder Devin Taylor did the same. Their heads collided when both went diving for the catch. Taylor rose quickly; Lasko did not. His terrified parents, Patti and James, and girlfriend, Alli Graff, watched from the stands. Lasko was placed on a stretcher. Doctors soon discovered he had fractured the C6 and C7 vertebrae in his neck, leaving him paralyzed. He required emergency surgery for spinal decompression and stabilization, followed by a cervical brace for several months. The injury rendered Lasko a tetraplegic, meaning he lost motor and sensory function in all four limbs and his torso. The 5‑foot‑11, 190‑pound athlete known for going all‑out on the field spent more than two weeks in the hospital before being flown to New Jersey, lying on a stretcher for 3½ hours with his mother and Graff at his side. Lasko has rewatched the collision, heartbroken that his family had to witness it. Still, he insists he would not change a thing—“100 times retired of 100,” he says, he would pursue that ball the exact same way. “I deliberation that’s the portion that made it worse for me, due to the fact