Apparently Aroldis Chapman was hit in the face by a line drive tonight in the Reds spring training game against the Royals. Was taken off on a stretcher and the game was called. Horrible news. Hopefully the big fella can recover fully and quickly.

ctrent ‏@ctrent
Chapman suffers laceration, contusion above left eye. never lost consciousness #Reds

ctrent ‏@ctrent
#Reds Price: 'He never lost consciousness. He was able to communicate, he was able to move his hands, his feet, his legs.' #Chapman

Damn. That's not only going to screw with him physically, but it's going to give him trouble mentally. I read he's got a few fractures, so he'll be out awhile.

The video is insane. He was drilled. If you really want to see it, ESPN has it up as part of the article on the link below. Best of luck to a full recovery for Aroldis.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/106368...carted-off

That reminds me of when Juan Encarnacion got drilled in the warm up circle by a foul ball. He got a shattered orbital bone and never played again. Granted Encarnacion was not as young or as talented at Chapman, but loss of vision was part of the issue.

That's scary for Chapman.

But damn if out pitching staff doesn't get effed up every season. Be nice if we were healthy for once.

He gets so far down the mound. He starts at 60'6" and his head ends up at about 50' on release. No time to react.

Scary. I have found myself worrying about this more and more for my own kid.

The only thing you can really do is finish in a solid defensive position. Only thing that gives you a chance to react. With that said, when you throw as hard as Chapman and have that long of a stride, you really don't stand a chance.

The helmets some teams have kids wearing on mounds do little for this type of situation. Those only protect the crown. They'd need to have them wear those softball helmets with the face mask. Yeesh.

Uber safety is not normally my speed. Maybe I am getting old. But when you have 12 year olds throwing in the mid 60s on a mound that is only 50 feet away from other 12 year olds who are nearing my height and who swing scandium alloy and composite bats like men, it gives you pause. Those balls are moving Mach 1 out of the IF.

It's been around for a while, but this will be the new sports public safety cause after football concussions become passé.

(03-20-2014 09:03 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  The helmets some teams have kids wearing on mounds do little for this type of situation. Those only protect the crown. They'd need to have them wear those softball helmets with the face mask. Yeesh.

Uber safety is not normally my speed. Maybe I am getting old. But when you have 12 year olds throwing in the mid 60s on a mound that is only 50 feet away from other 12 year olds who are nearing my height and who swing scandium alloy and composite bats like men, it gives you pause. Those balls are moving Mach 1 out of the IF.

It's been around for a while, but this will be the new sports public safety cause after football concussions become passé.

Totally agree about the helmets with a face mask for pitchers.

On a related note, the Reds' pitching may be in deep trouble to start the season with almost half of those expected on the Opening Day roster potentially being on the DL to start the year.

(03-21-2014 11:46 AM)Coopdaddy67 Wrote:  On a related note, the Reds' pitching may be in deep trouble to start the season with almost half of those expected on the Opening Day roster potentially being on the DL to start the year.

Cueto with a scapula issue? Sounds like his career is over.

Latos may start the season on the DL but he will make his start in the sixth game of the year. He will be on the DL so they can carry an extra relief pitcher the first week of the year. No one is ready to go the distance this early and they will burn more relief pitchers that week.

He will pitch a minor league game his last start in AZ. The DL time is set from his last major league start.

Wow:

(03-21-2014 05:27 PM)levydl Wrote:  Wow:

Holy crap!

On the radio it was mentioned that Cueto's issue was very minor and he would have pitched had it been the regular season. Just no reason to do anything when these games don't matter.

(03-21-2014 06:40 PM)Coopdaddy67 Wrote:  On the radio it was mentioned that Cueto's issue was very minor and he would have pitched had it been the regular season. Just no reason to do anything when these games don't matter.

Seems I've heard that somewhere before.

(03-20-2014 09:03 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  The helmets some teams have kids wearing on mounds do little for this type of situation. Those only protect the crown. They'd need to have them wear those softball helmets with the face mask. Yeesh.

Uber safety is not normally my speed. Maybe I am getting old. But when you have 12 year olds throwing in the mid 60s on a mound that is only 50 feet away from other 12 year olds who are nearing my height and who swing scandium alloy and composite bats like men, it gives you pause. Those balls are moving Mach 1 out of the IF.

It's been around for a while, but this will be the new sports public safety cause after football concussions become passé.

Could be even worse if not for BBCOR.

BBCOR only kicks in at 15u and high school. It is BESR before that.

Timed up bbcor shots are like wood bat shots, just as hot as scandium, just a smaller sweet spot in my experience.