Texas Rangers outfielder Willie Calhoun experienced a moment on Sunday in Spring Training that any baseball player is terrified of.
The 25-year-old was hit in the face by a fastball from the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Julio Urias, clocked at 95 mph. Calhoun was down for a few minutes, before being carted off and taken to a Phoenix hospital.
Scary moment here as Willie Calhoun takes a pitch right off the jaw pic.twitter.com/C1Ep4nhg0v
— Blake Harris (@BlakeHarrisTBLA) March 8, 2020
Former Dodgers prospect Willie Calhoun was hit in the face by a 95-mph fastball from Julio Urías. He was down for a few minutes and got up with a towel on his face. He's being carted off.
— Jorge Castillo (@jorgecastillo) March 8, 2020
At the hospital, Calhoun was diagnosed with a fractured jaw.
Update on Willie Calhoun who was hit in the mouth area by a Julio Urias pitch in today’s game. A CT scan and examination revealed he has a fracture of his jaw. He is expected to undergo further evaluation on Monday.
— John Blake (@RangerBlake) March 8, 2020
Texas manager Chris Woodward and general manager Jon Daniels left during the game to be with Calhoun at the hospital.
Lotta credit to manager Chris Woodward for leaving mid-game to join Willie Calhoun at hospital. GM Jon Daniels also left early to be at hospital with Calhoun
— Evan Grant (@Evan_P_Grant) March 8, 2020
Calhoun hit 21 home runs with a .269/.323/.524 slash line for the Rangers in 2019. The 2020 ZiPS projections had Calhoun with the second-highest OPS on the Rangers, so it’s a big loss for their lineup.
But obviously the team’s statistical loss is secondary to Calhoun recovering from getting drilled in the face by a 95-mph fastball. That’s both physically (which will be many weeks) and mentally- it has to be difficult to dig into the batter’s box quite the same way for a while after experiencing this.
