Blue Jays’ T.J. House to be released from hospital a day after being struck in head by line drive

Blue Jays pitcher T.J. House is expected to be released from the hospital on Saturday, a day after being struck in the head with a baseball, according to the Associated Press. The pitcher tweeted Friday night that he expects to make a “full recovery.”

Events took a scary turn during a Tigers-Blue Jays spring training game on Friday, when House was hit hard in the head by a line drive off the bat of Tigers minor league catcher John Hicks. House was moved to an ambulance via stretcher and transported to a nearby hospital.

House was reportedly barely moving well over five minutes after being hit. Several medical personnel immediately rushed to the mound, according to on-site reports, and House was lying facedown on the mound and not moving.

While being loaded onto the ambulance by stretcher, House gave a thumbs-up to the crowd of 9,116. The game was called shortly thereafter.

The game was in the bottom of the ninth inning with the Blue Jays leading 6-2, so most of the regular players were done for the day. After the called game, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons spoke to the media and said that the ball hit House in the back of the head. Reporter Lynn Henning tweeted that the ball went 30 feet into the air after striking House.

Gibbons had a small amount of good news after the game:

The 27-year-old House is in his first year with the Blue Jays, after having spent portions of the past three years with the Indians’ major league team. He had signed a minor league deal with Toronto in December 2016 after being designated for assignment during the season. He appeared in just four major league games for Cleveland and elected minor league free agency.