Ryan Howard Looking To Find His Old Self

After tearing his Achilles tendon at the end of  Game 5 in the 2011 NLDS against the St. Louis Cardinals, it has been a long road back for Philadelthia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard. Howard missed half of the 2012 season and half of the 2013 season with various injuries. The 2014 season saw Howard 100% healthy for the entire season for the first time since 2011. Howard would go on to hit .223 with 23 home runs and 95 RBI for the season. And while the home runs and RBI's were more like the old Ryan Howard, he lead the MLB with 190 strikeouts. With Howard having underperformed the last three seasons, the Phillies tried hard to trade the former NL MVP, but to no aveil. Howard has three years left and more than 65 million owed to him over that three year span, so the Phillies would love to get some value back for their money. Howard said during spring training last week that he doubled his workouts and batting practice during the offseason to try and help him get back to what made him one of the top 3 best hitters in baseball from 2006-2011. The Phillies are expected to be awful again this season as they transition into the rebuilding phase, but a healthy Ryan Howard hitting .270 or better, 30 or more homers, and 100 or more RBI's like the old Ryan Howard used to do would make the season ahead a little more easy to bear.   -Jared Pate