During today's game between the Chicago Cubs and the Florida Marlins, Cubs outfielder, Tyler Colvin, was hit with a shard of his teammate's broken bat. He was leading off of third base, as Wellington Castillo took a hack at a ball causing his bat to break in two. The barrel of the bat flew at Colvin, resulting in the jagged end piercing his chest. He managed to cross home plate and score but as he got into the dugout, he was holding his chest, below his collarbone, commenting that he was bleeding. He had a look of disbelief on his face and it almost appeared that he had the wind knocked-out of him. He left the game immediately going to the hospital to receive x-rays and stitches and Cubs trainer, Mark O'Neal, thought he wouldn't have to be there for an extended period of time, but it appears that he was admitted as a patient.
The question of the matter is should Colvin have been watching the hit ball (like he had been doing) or should he have had his eyes on the flying bat coming his way? All base runners are instructed to watch the hit ball at all times but under the extreme circumstances that Tyler Colvin was under, should he have glanced to look at the spear coming his way? Was there anything third base coach, Ivan DeJesus, could have done to warn Colvin?
In my opinion, Colvin did the right thing by keeping his focus on the ball that was in play; that is what rookies are taught to do and he showed his focus. However, I think he could have used his peripheral vision to see the large, flying object coming his way (especially since a sharp bat could cause significant damage) while still knowing where the ball was. I do give him props on managing to still cross home plate, though. In the end, he was definitely willing to take one for the team, even though it looked quite painful and the Cubs organization believes he will be out for the rest of the season.
What do you think?
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