“He does everything with passion and a full-speed mentality”
-legendary Norte Dame and LSU head coach,Paul Maineri about Mason Feole.
Passion and a full speed mentality are the only two ways I can describe my baseball journey. I grew up in a small town in Rhode Island and was raised by a baseball loving father who was the son of two Italian immigrants and a hardworking mother who taught him to value education, mental fortitude, and toughness. With the foundation of my father’s work ethic and my mother’s tenacity I continued to use my unique personality to attack life with full force. Fast forward to the young age of 24, where I’ve been able to experience and hold plenty of the chased titles that go along with a career in baseball such as All-State, RI Gatorade Player of the Year, HS First-Team All American, D1 Athlete, Freshman All-American, American Athletic Conference Rookie Pitcher of the Year, 3X First Team All-Conference, ECAC Rookie Pitcher of the Year, All-New England Rookie Pitcher of the Year, First-Team All-American, 2018 Collegiate USA National Team Member, Pre-Season All-American, Pitcher of the Year, Golden Spikes Watch List, UConn all-time leader in strikeouts (278), MLB Draft Pick, and Top 30 MLB Pipeline Organizational Prospect. Along with the highs, came the titles that most people could live without; lost, scared, injury prone, 10 and 60 day IL, draft bust, yipped and, Released… to name a few.
Despite my successes, the baseball journey was never easy for me as the failure and adversity has always seemed to outweigh the triumph. Coming from a small school in Wakefield, RI, being recruited to a D1 school was a challenge. I was a soft throwing lefty, barely getting out of the 78-84 range. I wasn’t supposed to play D1 baseball let alone for a Northeast powerhouse like UConn. However, when looking back over the last 8 years, this challenge seemed minute compared to the others. After a very successful first three years of HS baseball and a velocity jump into the mid-80s I become an All State selection and a HS All-American. Finally, in my junior season earned a baseball scholarship to the University of Connecticut while garnering interest from major leaguer scouts. However, the focus shifted dramatically during the winter of my senior year.
After attending a pre-draft workout in Philadelphia with representatives from the San Diego Padres, the Major League Baseball Draft definitely seemed like a possibility for me after my senior season. However, it was at the workout where my plans would change.
"The four months between that late-winter day and his last scheduled outing tested him mentally and physically. He was forced to contemplate losing the ability to play the game that he loved and, potentially, facing a far tougher and more dangerous opponent. Cancer." -Bill Koch (Projo)
I felt a sharp pain in my hip-flexor during a pitch at the workout which was significant enough for me to bring it to my parent’s attention and visit a doctor. Tests showed an aneurismal map bone cyst in my right pelvis. The possible causes were a pre-existing tumor, osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, and hemangioendothelioma.
My first visit with the doctor regarding my “hip flexor” was completely terrifying. My mom and I arrived at the doctor’s office and headed into a backroom where we saw a specialist. The doctor immediately began to explain my MRI and told us that there would be a 0% chance that I would continue being an athlete. He explained that along with the possible risks of more serious health related issues that could be existing in the tumor that was harming the smallest bone in my right pelvis, that I had a heightened chance of fracturing pelvis and risking losing the ability to move my right leg if that were to happen. He gave me two options before we left the meeting. He told me that they could immobilize the tumor so that it would not spread and that if I chose this option I would have to stop playing baseball, training, and being an athlete. The second, he said was a procedure to bone graft, which would leave me with a 45% chance of losing the ability to operate my right leg because of how tricky the procedure would be to remove the cyst, avoid all of the other small tendons and ligaments, as well as the bone itself regaining full strength again. We eft the office that day completely hopeless. I remember being distraught about what I heard in that office, however, I quickly had to change my mindset to console my mom who was rightfully upset. For the next few days we prayed, researched, and called just about everyone we could think of who could help us make a decision or find another way that would allow me to live a normal life going forward. Baseball in this moment was secondary as living and getting my healthy back was now at the forefront. During this time, I began a deeper journey into my faith. I was already a practicing Christian and a peer minister in my school but this tested my faith to levels that I had never been tested through before. One of my best friends started coming to church with my every single morning and we began praying for a miracle. I promised God in that moment that from there on out my life would be entirely devoted into doing His Will, trusting his plan, believing in and accepting his grace and Jesus as our savior, and working every day to help others hear and trust the word of God in my own unique and way.
After about 2 weeks of waiting, exploring options, and prayer, my family received a call from the first doctor we saw. He was optimistic about an experimental procedure that he wanted to try with me. We decided to go for it. I made a leap of faith but I knew that whatever were to happen that it would be God’s plan for me, and God’s plan was always going to be greater than my own.
A few days later it was time for the procedure. Doctors performed a procedure to remove my cyst and immobilizing the blood flow to the pelvis. They then injected me with Pro-Dense, a regenerative bone graft. This substitute was designed to speed the healing process.
After over 6 hours and two hospitals, I woke up surrounded by family and my parents who were excited to see their son awake and tell me the good news. The procedure to this point was a complete success. They had not only immobilized the tumor, but they had completely removed the tumor through a bone graft but they trusted and believed that the injection of pro-dense would replace my pelvis bone and make me even stronger for the rest of my life. The next day nurses helped me get onto my feet for the first time, as I walked around the hospital with a walker and tried to regain some of my bearings. I was extremely weak, unstable, and I had lost a tremendous amount of mobility and range of motion from the procedure. I knew that I had a long way to go if I wanted to pitch in my senior high school season and eventually be strong enough again to play at UConn or even professionally.
I worked relentlessly during my surgery rehab to get stronger and use my lower half more efficiently. I spent hours upon end at Hops AP, with Matt Hopkins DPT, CSCS. The first stages were just about getting my strength and ranges of motion back. Then we worked on walking normally, eventually running, and completing easier tasks in the weight room.
When I was strong enough to return to more baseball related activity we began to get to work. Our goal was to regain my natural ability that I had harvested myself my first three years of high school that had brought me so many awards and opportunities but also make an even bigger jump. I wanted to prove that I was good enough to pitch in the pros and/or at UConn.
Together we cleaned up old movement patterns using various training tools. I was constantly in the weight room working on general strength and mobility and PRI which is a breathing technique that allows for the body to fix its postures through focused breath. Matt helped me become a better athlete, stronger, and rotate faster.
After training with him for my rehab, and during my senior HS season I had a huge velocity climb going from mid 80s to 88-91 for my senior season. Along with a new and improved physical approach, I worked with my childhood and high school pitching coach, former Oakland A’s minor leaguer Brad Hertzler on the mental game. Brad would have me read a chapter from the Mental ABCs of Pitching every single day, and would give me specific chapters to focus on pre-game to help set up a mental approach to my high school games. This mental strengthening, and my new found gratitude for life, my faith, and the game of baseball helped me to reach new heights that year and become the man I am today.
More importantly this gave me newfound tools as a leader, a worker, and gave me a “Why.” Once my senior year was completed I was named the RI Gatorade of the Year along with a HS All-American. My early stages of adversity only set the table for the next few chapters in my life.
Less than a year later I was on campus during the Fall in Storrs, CT competing for a spot in the pitching rotation come the spring. UConn at the time was loaded with arms. Just having lost Anthony Kay to the first round of the MLB draft and having Saturday and Sunday locked up by eventual 2nd and 5th rounders, Tim Cate and Wills Montgomerie respectively, my goal was to earn a spot pitching on the weekend in my freshman campaign.
However, my fall did not go according to plan. From balks to wild pitches, I was lost during that freshman fall. Failing to control the game and consistently beating myself I kept letting the game speed up, and it sped up fast. Although I brought a fastball now to the mound topping at 93, a hard slider and a change-up that would frequently get whiffs it just wasn’t enough to succeed.
This would be overcome through a newfound love for mental breathing. I used breathing practices to center myself in between outings, before starts, in-between innings and before bullpens. I never followed a specific breathing routine but I used some of the breathing practices that I learned from team assigned yoga during the summer at UConn. I would simply sit quietly, close my eyes, breathe through my nose, and try to block out all thought completely. I would slowly allow myself to hear noises that surrounded me, and relaxed my mind into what I considered an anxiety free state of mind. I felt that it gave me a different level of preparedness and confidence.
Taking this new mindset and energy into the Spring, I earned a role on the weekend rotation starting on Sunday. I became a Freshman All-American, and earned AAC Rookie Pitcher of the Year honors while pitching the most innings out of any starter at UConn that year. I later went on to play in the prestigious Cape Cod League in the summer ultimately setting me up for a huge sophomore year.
In my sophomore season I would be selected to pitch on the 2018 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team where I dominated throwing 11 scoreless innings. I became an All-America recognized by ABCA/Rawlings, Collegiate Baseball, Baseball America, D1 Baseball and Perfect Game. That year I became the ace of the UConn pitching staff and would lead the Huskies in ERA, wins, starts, inning pitched and strikeouts, becoming the first pitcher since 1979 to record 120 strikeouts in a single-season.
As I geared up for my Junior season, I saw the sky as my limit. After coming off an incredible season which opened many doors for me and a possible high round selection in the 2019 MLB draft. While I continued my normal routine, I felt a sharp pain my elbow which required me to miss a few starts to open the season. I rehabbed back as a weekend starter and finished out the year strong making it onto Rob Friedman's Pitching Ninja, and becoming UConn’s All-Time strike-out leader in the process.
After finishing my season I was selected to undergo imaging from the Top 50 Pitchers pre-draft. Upon my imaging an MRI would show a fully torn UCL which meant it was time for Tommy John Surgery. This was just a few days before becoming an 11th Round pick by the San Diego Padres in the 2019 MLB Draft. A few days after signing my first professional contract, I was headed to Dallas for UCL reconstruction and started the journey back to full health.
I began my professional career with the challenge of returning to the mound after TJ. After a shoulder set back, and the pandemic of COVID-19 I returned home to work with Matt Hopkins and John DeRouin of Hops AP to recreate myself as a pitcher and an athlete while finishing my degree from UConn. I got stronger, began to move more efficiently and faced hitters again for the first time 15-months post-surgery.
I came back stronger than ever, throwing fastballs in the mid-90s, and touching 97 during the 2020 instructional league.
In 2021, I went into spring training as a top 30 prospect with the Padres by MLB pipeline and started my professional career in High-A but the year was plagued by injury yet again. An oblique strain placed me on the IL for the better parts of the entire first half of the season and a small tear in my shoulder ended my season after I had finally caught stride as a hard throwing late inning reliever striking out nearly on average two hitter per inning.
The next offseason would be spent rehabbing my shoulder and getting ready to make a splash during the 2022 spring training. Returning back to mid 90s form yet again after 2 shoulder injuries, an oblique strain and Tommy John. However, I would head back to the IL just one appearance after Spring Training again due to a shoulder injury which I would rehab again to comeback throwing fastballs in the mid 90s striking out 7 of the 9 outs I recorded in my rehab assignment before eventually being released upon the completion of the assignment.
As I continue to train athletes and pursue my professional career, I've realized that God’s plan would always outweigh mine. This has been an instrumental part of my journey thus far. My main focus was there’s more to life than baseball. If I don’t play again, so be it. I’m going to do whatever I can to help other people. Everyone suffers. There have been big moments of suffering in my life but a lot of people have it way worse. A lot of people struggle to the point where it may seem like light will never come. It was awesome for me personally to stand there in that experience of suffering and to give me strength to serve others. Understanding suffering and learning the tools that it took to manage and dominate any and all adversity is what truly propelled me to achieve so much more throughout my career and moving forward. My goal is and always will be to serve others in a player first model.