Jeremiah Estrada picked up a pen and some paper and began writing messages to his family members. 

It was 2021 and the Cubs’ rookie reliever was going through a serious bout with COVID-19. So much so that he thought he needed to prepare his final farewells to his loved ones. Baseball, let alone the major leagues seemed light years away. 

But Estrada leaned on his faith, as he told Elise Menaker prior to Friday’s series opener in St. Louis. That helped guide him through the tough bout with COVID-19. It helped him in 2019 as he recovered from Tommy John surgery and it helped him in 2020 when the minor league season was wiped out and he didn’t play. 

Estrada discussed his journey that resulted in his major league debut on Tuesday in Toronto with a pair of strikeouts in an inning of work. 

Catch his full interview in the video above.