MLB slugger, Stanton, hit in the face; leaves field on a stretcher

[smizzy]

Last night in a game between the Marlins and Brewers, one of the premier young talents of the game, Giancarlo Stanton, was struck in the face by a pitch delivered from Mike Fiers. After a long delay of the game, Stanton left the field via stretcher.

Eventually, it was revealed that Stanton has suffered from several facial lacerations and fractures as well as dental damage.

This is sickening to me. Stanton, Mike Trout, and Clayton Kershaw are the most exciting young players in the game. If you're unfamiliar with Giancarlo Stanton, he is this generations Mark McGwire; he's a bonafide homerun hitter. He hits baseballs harder and further than anyone else in the Majors. Injuries like this can end careers, see Kirby Puckett and Juan Encarnacion. It would be tragic to see Stanton's career be effected by this as he has all the intangibles to be a hall of famer. He's 24 years old and has 154 career homeruns already.

If things weren't bad enough for Fiers already, the man who replaced Stanton to finish the at-bat (Stanton techinically swung at the pitch therefore the at-bat was still in progress) was hit up and in by the very next pitch.

Video: http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/11493214/v36174175/must-c-clips-stanton-hit-in-face-benches-clear

 

[Akhilleus]

He tweeted out though that he's much better now. He won't be back this year which is fine because Miami is done at the end of the month anyway. But he'll be back to normal agan by next season.

I'm not worried about him having any psychological problems. That doesn't really happen to batters. It's more often pitchers that get hit with a line drive who end up not being the same because they're a little worried. But batters there really isn't much you can change anyway so I think long term he'll be okay, just sore.

 

[Galvatron]

I'm a Pirates and Marlins fan. This one was hard to watch. Glad that he's feeling better. I feel bad for the pitcher too. Has to suck to make a mistake on a pitch and hit the batter in the face. No pitcher wants to do that.

 

[Slash-LN]

I hope the guy is okay overall. You never want to see an athlete get hurt like that.

I was just reading an article because of this post about batters wearing facial protection.

Any chance the league would move forward with something like that?
And if so why hadn't they already?

 

[The Brain]

Really a shame for Stanton. This is going to hurt his MVP chances. What really bothered me about it was the Marlins charging the field. It was clearly an accident. I really hate how all these baseball players feel they have to act like such tough guys all the time.

 

[Thriller Ant]

Really a shame for Stanton. This is going to hurt his MVP chances. What really bothered me about it was the Marlins charging the field. It was clearly an accident. I really hate how all these baseball players feel they have to act like such tough guys all the time.

The Marlins' announcers were the worst part. Fiers definitely didn't hit Stanton in the face on purpose; besides common sense, you can tell by his immediate reaction. He also didn't hit Johnson on purpose. Jeff Sullivan pointed out on Fangraphs today that Fiers lives up and in, and Johnson was also close to the plate. I guess they could have a gripe with the umps about the swing calls, but the charging of the field and the announcers all but saying Fiers was headhunting is ridiculous, and that's coming from someone that strongly dislikes the Brewers.

 

[Slash-LN]

Really a shame for Stanton. This is going to hurt his MVP chances. What really bothered me about it was the Marlins charging the field. It was clearly an accident. I really hate how all these baseball players feel they have to act like such tough guys all the time.

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