New York: Bryan Mitchell ended the top of the first inning at Yankee Stadium by striking out the cleanup hitter with a 155kph fastball. He punched his glove in excitement as he bounced off the mound.
The next inning ended in horror for him. Mitchell, a rookie right-hander for the New York Yankees, took a line drive from the Minnesota Twins’ Eduardo Nunez off the right side of his skull. Mitchell’s cap flew off and his body crumpled to the ground as he reached for his head. On his knees in front of the mound, Mitchell lifted his head, blood pouring down.
The scene seemed to take much longer than it did. Mitchell was on the ground just 35 seconds before rising and walking to the Yankees dugout, his left arm draped over a trainer’s shoulder, his bloody right hand holding a towel that covered his face.
Mitchell was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, and the Yankees said he had a “small nasal fracture.” Mitchell was released from the hospital, and the team said it would monitor him through Tuesday for possible concussion symptoms.
Mitchell’s name can now be added to a grisly roll call of major league pitchers to endure such mound trauma. In the last five seasons, all of these pitchers - and perhaps more - have also been struck in the head by line drives: Juan Nicasio, Brandon McCarthy, Doug Fister, J.A. Happ, Alex Cobb, Aroldis Chapman, Dan Jennings and Carlos Carrasco.
Evan Marshall, a Class AAA pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks, fractured his skull when he was hit by a line drive in El Paso, Texas, on Aug. 4. Marshall had surgery to alleviate swelling and pressure, and told the Arizona Republic that he had 20 staples removed from an incision in his head on Sunday.
Batters face similar danger, of course, with players like Giancarlo Stanton taking fastballs to the face. But helmets have been mandatory for decades, and the last player to wear one without ear flaps, Tim Raines, retired in 2002.
Pitchers have the option of wearing padded caps, but only the New York Mets’ Alex Torres, who pitched for the Tampa Bay Rays when Cobb was hit by an Eric Hosmer liner in 2013, has done so. Torres is now in the minor leagues.
The padded cap is really more like a neck brace for the skull, with a team logo in the front. It is cumbersome looking, and some pitchers have surely resisted because of its awkward appearance. Most pitchers have said that even the slightest variation in their balance could alter their mechanics.
It was unclear if Nunez’s liner would have hit the padding, had Mitchell been wearing it, or if it still would have struck him flush. In any case, without a football or motorcycle helmet, many such accidents are unavoidable for pitchers.
