The on-deck circle can be a weird, bizarre and somewhat dangerous place, and it certainly was for Rays infielder Nick Franklin on Wednesday afternoon.
In the bottom of the first, he went down to pick something up and his teammate Kevin Kiermaier, not realizing that he was there, continued to take warm-up cuts anyway, and hit his teammate in the head.
Franklin stayed in the game, walked in his first plate appearance, and scored on a home run later in the inning, but was removed after the inning ended due to the head injury.
The Rays then offered this update.
#Rays INF Nick Franklin left today's game with a head contusion. He was removed as a precaution and for further observation.
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) August 17, 2016
Baseball is filled with some bizarre and weird injuries, and Nick Franklin’s injury is another addition to that mix. Hopefully he’s OK, and his teammates will realize who is around them in the on-deck circle from now on.
