MADISON, Ala. — The team-building exercise was simple. Early this season, coaches at Rocket City, the Angels’ Double-A affiliate, asked each player to step forward and share something personal with the entire squad.

Name a hero in your life, a hardship and a highlight. 

Zac Kristofak, a 25-year-old starting pitcher, began internally preparing for his turn. In a way, he’d already spent more than 10 years building toward this moment. And while any cursory Google search of his last name would have turned up the disturbing details from a decade ago, none of his teammates knew the full story.

When Kristofak got up to speak in front of his teammates, there were no nerves. His heart did not pound. His mind did not race. The words tumbled out.

It was Dec. 22, 2012, a cold afternoon in the Atlanta suburbs. Kristofak, then 15, was coming back from baseball practice with his friend. They pulled up to his home to find a large police presence encircling the house.

At first, Kristofak thought there was a fire. But he quickly realized there were no fire trucks on the scene. He jumped out of the car and raced to a police officer, who asked him about his parents.

Just a few hours earlier, Kristofak’s mom, Donna Nations Kristofak, had taken him to baseball practice.

He returned to find his mother’s black Honda Odyssey near her garage, and blood on the ground where EMTs had attempted lifesaving CPR.

It was too late. Zac’s mother, he would later learn, had been murdered by his father.

After Kristofak spoke to the team, “everyone just had a shock to their face,” said Kristofak’s teammate Jack Dashwood. “I think anyone would tell you that Zac Kristofak is one of the toughest dudes that they probably ever met in baseball.”

“This is who I am,” Kristofak said later. “I’m not afraid of who I am.”

Zac (left) and Harrison with Donna Kristofak, during what Zac remembers as a happy and normal childhood. (Courtesy of Zac Kristofak)

In the months leading up…