Colin Moran of the Houston Astros is headed to the 10-day disabled list, and as bad as that sounds, it looks like it could have been a whole lot worst.
Moran suffered facial fractures after he fouled a ball off his left eye during Saturday's game against the Baltimore Orioles. The third baseman had been called up just the day before and was playing in his second game when the incident occurred.
Moran fouled the ball back and immediately went down. He had trouble standing and had to be carted off the field.
Moran also spent the night in the hospital and suffered a concussion.
"It happens on bunts, it'll happen on ricochets," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said after the game, as quoted in USAToday. "I've seen it happen, and it's on a lot of blooper reels because it can knock guys down or it knocks their helmet off.
"Rarely does it turn like that, where it takes a guy out of the game. So you go from a little bit of a blooper reel, where something you don't normally see on the field, to major concern about a player."
The lefty-hitting Moran, 24, is one of Houston top 20 prospects. It's the second time this season a touted rookie has suffered a devastating injury after being called up. Dustin Fowler, of the New York Yankees' to prospects, was injured in the just the second inning of his first game in the bigs when he ran into a wall and suffered an open rupture of his patella tendon. He's done for the year.
