I just watched Yankee pitcher Brian Mitchell get hit flush in the face – I\’m not sure where, hoping it is not his eye – by a batted ball. Mitchell fell straight down, face on the ground, and stayed down until he was helped off the field, with a towel covering his face, but blood all over his hand.
We sometimes forget that the pitcher starts only 60 feet, six inches from home plate and, upon releasing the ball, his forward motion carries him much closer. Add in a combination of the pitched ball\’s speed – in Mitchell\’s case, about 97 – 98 miles an hour – with the batter, swinging as hard as he can, solidly connecting, and it is not hard to see how something like this might happen.
I know you join me in wishing Brian Mitchell the best, and hoping this is nowhere near as bad as it might be.
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UPDATE: Great news. The ball did not hit Mitchell in the eye. He has a “nasal fracture”, which I gather is not major, and was actually out of the hospital and back in the dugout before the end of the game….which the Yankees won in 10 innings.
A very, very happy ending to what could have been a tragic story.
