Baldelli still lives with his condition; that part hasn’t gone away. He deals with it every day. His job requires him to travel a lot, and that can take a toll. But he does it eagerly and willingly.

“It’s something I’ll always have to deal with,’’ he said. “People ask me if the rest from major league baseball has made me stronger, to be able to play again. The answer is no. It doesn’t work that way. It’s something that’s just part of my existence right now and that’s the way it is.’’

People who saw Baldelli as a high school athlete at Bishop Hendricken couldn’t believe their eyes.

He was Tony Conigliaro reincarnated. He was Harry Agganis. He was Bobby Valentine.

Ask anyone to name the greatest high school baseball players they ever saw come through New England, and Baldelli is usually at the top of the list.

His skills even were compared to those of Joe DiMaggio.

When the Rays had Crawford and Baldelli, it was Baldelli who played center field.

His throws from the outfield are legendary. To throw it perfectly straight, with no hop, to the catcher from reasonably deep center? Suffice to say, there aren’t many center fielders in baseball who can do it. He did.

But he was never able to hit his prime because the injuries just kept knocking him down, and rehabs would take so much longer.

He had the same ulnar collateral nerve injury his buddy Crawford is currently going through. And while the Rays tried a similar conservative approach to his rehab, Baldelli eventually had Tommy John surgery. Then came a long rehab from that.

Before the Red Sox signed him in January 2009, they sent him for major tests to the Cleveland Clinic and other institutions in an effort to get a read on his disease. They thought they had come up with a reasonable program of medication and vitamins and a managed playing-time program.

When he did play, he was effective. But it all seemed to catch up with him.