San Diego Padres’ Kyle Blanks survives scare after colliding with wall - MLB News
The San Diego Padres were blanked out by the San Francisco Giants 0-5 in the latter’s home field on Sunday April 21, 2013 but surely one person from the San Diego team, Kyle Blanks, would be least concerned about the outcome.
Kyle went after a fly ball hit by Joaquin Arias in the left field in the sixth inning when he collided with the wall in the process. Blanks managed to hold on and remained on the field for a minute before he had to leave due to injury.
He got a cut from the glasses he was wearing near the eye and had four stitches on his left eye lid. He was lucky not to have any fractures or broken bones.
There have been previous occasions in which players have been severely injured smashing into the walls and there has been a single death in Major League Baseball in a similar event nearly a hundred years back.
The left fielder was glad that he hung on to the catch after he smashed into the wall.
“I ran for a ball, caught it and smashed into the wall," Blanks said. "My sunglasses gave it a pretty good slice. I was happy I hung onto it."
The 26-year-old realised a touch too late that he was running out of space when he was taking the catch and could not stop himself from banging into the wall.
"As I'm about to catch it, I think I'm running out of space," Kyle said.
Kyle was replaced in the left field by first baseman Jesus Guzman and the duties at the first base were taken by Yonder Alonso.
Blanks is currently batting with an average of .250 in seven games that he has played in so far. He has a decent .333 on-base percentage and has hit a single home-run as well. He has driven in three runs.
Manager Bud Black was also relieved that Kyle is fine and was all praise for the excellent catch that he took. He said that the left fielder is somewhat shaken but is fine overall.
"He's a little banged up, jarred," said Black. "But he's going to be fine. He made a great catch."
Baseball fielders are known for their athletic abilities and great catching capabilities. This is another excellent display of skills by these top level professionals. However, one has to be careful in order to save themselves from a severe injury that can
so easily take place.
This event should serve as a reminder to everyone that eventually you will run out of ground and one should never lose track of his location when going for the catch. Kyle did not get seriously hurt but fielders can run out of luck if they push it too much.
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