There was a scary incident in the sixth inning of the Braves eventual 4-1 victory over the New York Mets at Citi Field this afternoon. Braves Outfielder Jason Heyward was hit in the face by a 90 MPH Jon Niese fastball. Heyward has been diagnosed with a broken right jaw following the incident and will undergo surgery on Thursday to repair the damage. The jaw is fractured in two places. The injury should keep Heyward out for the next 4-6 weeks, which would mean that even if all goes well, he’d be returning right at the end of the regular season.
“He never lost consciousness,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “Right before he went to the hospital he popped his head into the clubhouse to say goodbye to some of the guys.”
“It’s not the ballpark, it’s just a matter of freak stuff happening. It can happen anywhere.”
There has been a lot of talk about intentionally throwing at hitters in light of the recent Ryan Dempster/Alex Rodriguez incident, but from watching the replay of this incident, I believe it is quite clear that this was accidental on the part of Niese. It is one of those freak injuries that occurs once in a while in a sport like baseball. Niese was visibly concerned for Heyward as the latter left the field.
“I felt horrible,” Niese said. “Sometimes this game can be pretty dangerous. One minute you’re playing, the next you’re down. I felt terrible.”
“Scary, to be honest,” Mets catcher John Buck said. “You don’t ever want to hit anyone in the head. Saw him spitting up blood; that was even scarier.”
Heyward’s grandparents were reportedly at the game in New York and were rushed to the Braves clubhouse after the incident. Surely it must have been a scary incident for them to witness.
The 24-year-old Heyward was hitting .254/.348/.426 with 13 home runs in 94 games this season. However Heyward seems cursed with injury issues as he has missed time this year due to an appendectomy and a strained hamstring.
The Braves have an almost insurmountable lead in the NL East and so this injury shouldn’t really effect them in the regular season. However they will hope to have Heyward back for the playoffs. In the meantime expect B.J. Upton, Jordan Schafer and Evan Gattis to see more time in the Braves lineup in the coming weeks.
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