Influx Magazine

Jake Elbeery paused between swings of his bat, recalling how he used to hit baseballs with his father in their New England backyard. His whole life to this point, it seemed, had been built around a dream he now knew was no longer possible. 

The 23-year-old fifth-year first baseman rotated his shoulder methodically between sessions at the Golden Gopher hitting facility, checking on his semi-torn labrum, the latest in a series of injuries that defined his first few years of adulthood and forced him to rethink his identity.

Starting with youth baseball at 9 years old and ending with Division I collegiate play, his methodical analysis of each practice swing and each in-game pitch reflected his high expectations. But his childhood dream of making it to the major leagues no longer seemed viable. So now what? What lies beyond the end of the only road you’ve ever known?

Elbeery is finding out.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association says more than 40,000 Division I athletes find themselves at the end of their athletic eligibility after each school year. More than 600 of them are at the University of Minnesota, many of whom also will have to move on from sports competition. 

The National Library of Medicine estimates that college athletes spend 4,000-6,000 hours of their lives training, playing and competing in their respective sport leading up to graduation. Come graduation, most will face the end of their athletic career. For many, that’s when the anxiety sets in.

Elbeery’s first realization that his aspirations may never be lived out struck in spring 2025, in the midst of what would be a season-long knee injury. The memory of that time still pulls him back into an anxious, dark place – the closest to depression, he says, that he’s ever been. 

“It was definitely worse than I thought at the time, and I tried to rehab too fast just to get back to what I thought I could be,” Elbeery said. “At the time, I had nothing besides baseball and [the players], and I thought it would be over.” 

The work he put into rehabbing his knee went unrewarded, and he lost one of his last chances to perform in front of major league scouts. Instead of the break-out year he envisioned, Elbeery was left contemplating what could have been. 

Along with his knee troubles, Elbeery also recalled that same moment of injury as a possible cause of his labrum tear discovered almost a year later. Aiming for an inside-the-park homerun after hitting an off-the-wall triple in spring 2025, Elbeery dove awkwardly onto home plate, only to wince in pain almost immediately. 

Now, talking about the energy drink company, WELD, Elbeery became visibly more relaxed. His hands, fidgeting with the velcro in his batting gloves, came to a steady halt. His legs slowly quieted. 

He picked up the empty blue-raspberry WELD can beside him and stared at it for a few fleeting moments before sharing his excitement on becoming chief marketing officer. A smile crept up on the corners of his face, and began swinging at incoming baseballs again as he shared the beginnings of a new passion. 

“I flew home, and I immediately thought it was a good idea so I said to Ernie, ‘let’s do it,’ Elbeery said. “And with that, you know, my mind cleared from the season, and into the summer for the first time I can remember, I didn’t think about baseball as much.” 

By January 2026 they launched with four flavors that Elbeery described as “the best you’ll ever taste.” Steve Elbeery, Jake’s father and WELD’s Chief Operating Officer, decided to come out of retirement to help his son in any way he could. 

“I was put on this Earth to put my children before myself, you know, I remember building his batting cage in our backyard to help him practice, taking him all around for any sport he played,” Steve Elbeery said. “But when he told me about WELD, I knew if I could do anything to help him succeed I would, because if not, why am I here?” 

He picked up the empty blue-raspberry WELD can beside him and stared at it for a few fleeting moments before sharing his excitement on becoming chief marketing officer. A smile crept up on the corners of his face, and began swinging at incoming baseballs again as he shared the beginnings of a new passion.

“I was put on this Earth to put my children before myself, you know, I remember building his batting cage in our backyard to help him practice, taking him all around for any sport he played,” Steve Elbeery said. “But when he told me about WELD, I knew if I could do anything to help him succeed I would, because if not, why am I here?” 

For the first time in his life, Jake Elbeery said he was not worried about the next game; about whether an inconsistency in his swing was really all in his head.  Instead, he channeled his emotions toward a passion that brought him closer to the end of this particular road. 

Elbeery’s father said that he was excited about his son’s ambition for WELD, not because of the success that it may bring, but the peace that it gives to his son. 

“Baseball is going to end one day, and it’s going to be all over. It doesn’t gradually stop, it stops after one at bat, one day, and your baseball career is over, and it’s a steep cliff,” Steve Elbeery said. “I was thrilled that he sort of found an opportunity to prevent him from falling off that cliff.”