A year after a blood clot in his lung nearly ended his career, Griffin Doersching stood on a Franklin Field turf that sits practically in his own backyard and drove in 10 runs in a single game, a Milwaukee Milkmen record. The Greendale native missed the entire 2025 season after a pulmonary embolism forced him off the field, and in 2026 he came back to make the American Association All-Star team while playing for his hometown club.
Doersching's ordeal began in 2025, when he went to the emergency room after feeling exhausted and unlike himself, according to WISN. Doctors found blood clots in his lung, a condition commonly known as a pulmonary embolism, and determined his lung was receiving insufficient oxygen. He was 25 years old at the time and spent several days in the hospital before later taking blood thinners.
Those blood thinners came with a brutal trade-off for a professional hitter. Doersching told CBS 58 that the embolism caused severe shortness of breath and blood in his cough, and that the medication he needed made it too dangerous to face pitches traveling up to 96 mph because of the elevated risk of internal bleeding. A single fastball to the ribs, in other words, could have been a medical emergency rather than just a bruise.
According to the American College of Cardiology, anticoagulation is required for three months following provoked venous thromboembolism, after which athletes can fully return to play without restriction. Athletes requiring long-term anticoagulation have traditionally been told to forgo contact and collision sports.
Long Walks and a Manager Who Wouldn't Give Up on Him
With his season gone, Doersching began his recovery the way a lot of patients on blood thinners do: on foot. He returned to swinging and throwing gradually during his recovery, but before that, long walks with family and friends became his rehab, and per the same CBS 58 account, he sometimes covered 6 to 12 miles at a stretch around The Rock Sports Complex.
It was on one of those walks that Milkmen manager Anthony Barone pulled over to talk with him, a moment that led to Doersching being re-signed for the 2026 season, the station reported. Doersching's mother said the pulmonary embolism made the family grateful for what they have, a sentiment that reflects how serious the scare was for people who watched him go from hospital bed to home run leader in the span of a year.
A Record Night and a Return to the All-Star Game
Doersching's comeback turned into a historic one. On June 9, 2026, he set an American Association single-game record by driving in 10 runs during a 13-1 Milwaukee Milkmen victory over the Gary SouthShore RailCats, according to the American Association of Professional Baseball. Days later, for the week ending June 14, the league named him Batter of the Week after he hit .455, an honor he shared with Sioux City Explorers pitcher Peniel Otaño.
Doersching reached 20 home runs, connecting on his 20th during a game against the Chicago Dogs, per the league's own accounting. That power surge and his overall season earned him a spot on the American Association All-Star team and a turn in the All-Star Game Home Run Derby, a full circle moment for a player who had once won the 2019 College World Series Home Run Derby at Northern Kentucky University by launching 51 home runs across three rounds.
From Padres Draft Pick to Independent Ball Comeback
Doersching's power was never in doubt before the health scare. The San Diego Padres selected him in the eighth round, 240th overall, of the 2022 MLB Draft out of Oklahoma State University, where he had hit 15 home runs in 42 games in his final collegiate season, according to MLB.com. He played in San Diego's minor league system before being released by the Fort Wayne TinCaps on August 4, 2024, per MiLB.com.
After his release, Doersching eventually played for the Milkmen near Greendale, where his family lives across the street from Franklin Field. The Milkmen's home ballpark is a 4,000-seat facility in Franklin, Wisconsin, located at Ballpark Commons, and Doersching's father has said getting to games is easy because the park is so close, according to WISN. Doersching brings energy and leadership to the Milkmen, and he has said his first word as a child was ball.
City of Franklin planning documents described Ballpark Commons as including an outdoor baseball stadium with approximately 2,500 hard seats and capacity for approximately 4,000 spectators.
A Rare Diagnosis in a Young Athlete
Pulmonary embolisms in healthy athletes in their twenties are uncommon. Venous thromboembolism affects up to 900,000 people annually in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but the American Heart Association puts the risk for adults under 40 at roughly 1 in 10,000. Blood clots in elite athletes are often linked to trauma, dehydration, or extensive team travel, underscoring how unusual Doersching's case was for someone in peak physical condition.
Doersching has said people should enjoy playing while they can, a line that carries extra weight given how close he came to not playing at all. He returned to the field one year after the diagnosis forced him off it, and the Milkmen have found in him not just a middle-of-the-order bat but a hometown story that plays out, quite literally, in his own backyard.
