Juan Nicasio Is Back And Pitching

Something something Friday is March 9, and here is a picture:

That’s Juan Nicasio, pitching for the Rockies in a Cactus League game. Friday, Nicasio made his 2012 Cactus League debut, allowing an unearned run in three innings of work. His fastball reportedly got up to 95.

Every season, there are between 700,000 and 750,000 pitches thrown in the major leagues. About 699,996 to 749,996 of those result in harmless baseball-related events. A few of them result in scary, horrifying head trauma (as opposed to the gentle, fluffy head trauma, I suppose). It’s easily one of the worst parts about baseball. Every sport has something you don’t want to see; baseball’s “something” involves a projectile to the head.

There’s a range of injuries you expect from a pitcher hit with a batted ball -- concussions, fractured eye orbitals, skull fractures -- and then there’s what happened to Nicasio. The ball was traveling with such force that when it hit his head, it broke his neck. It seems ridiculous to type or read. But there it is.

Nicasio was released from the hospital last Wednesday, and, according to the article, has been walking from his apartment to Coors Field every day. Today, there will be a reunion between Nicasio and the rest of the Rockies.

Nicasio is likely to meet with the media Tuesday to discuss the incident for the first time. He’s on track to have his neck brace removed in six weeks. The plate will not keep him from pitching again if he can clear the mental and physical hurdles that lie ahead, according to The [Denver] Post.

The Colorado Rockies’ Juan Nicasio, hit in the head Friday night by a ball hit by Washington Nationals shortstop Ian Desmond, was operated on at the Denver Health Medical Center by Dr. Allen Schreiber. Despite the severity of the injury, to his C-1 vertebrae, the doctor told the Denver Post that Nicasio might have a chance to pitch again:

Nicasio was reported to be in serious but stable condition, and he has had a plate and two screws placed in his neck to help stabilize the area. The doctors and Rockies trainer Keith Dugger said they had never seen this type of injury in a baseball player before.

“Juan Nicasio is resting comfortably at a Denver hospital following surgery early this morning to stabilize a fracture to the C-1 vertebrae in his neck,” the team said in a release. “Juan will remain hospitalized as he recovers from the surgery.”

Video of the incident is embedded below, though we have to warn that it is a bit graphic.

Here is video of the incident. Warning: the video is graphic.

Via Jose3030