Ryan Vogelsong

On May 23rd, 2016 the Pittsburgh Pirates were facing the Colorado Rockies. Ryan Vogelsong was pitching for the Pirates, but at this particular moment, he was at the plate. Rockies’ hurler Jordan Lyles was on the hill and uncorked a 92-mph fastball that drilled Vogelsong in the face.

As Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reported, Vogelsong that he was career was over.

“I couldn’t see at all,” Vogelsong said. “I didn’t know if my eye was gone.”

Pirates’ head athletic trainer Todd Tomczyk rushed to the plate to look at Vogelsong’s face. One of the first things Vogelsong told him was, “my career’s over. I lost my eye.”

While Vogelsong was freaking out, understandably so, his ability to freak out and understand was actually a good sign according to Tomczyk.

“Someone that lost consciousness, someone that wasn’t alert, wouldn’t be able to function and create those thoughts.”

Over two months later, Vogelsong is nearing his return to the big leagues. In three Minor League rehab starts, the veteran is 1-1 with an ERA of 3.00 after giving up five earned runs over 12.0 IP between Double-A and Triple-A.

With his return to the bigs imminent, Vogelsong is disappointed he didn’t get a specific phone call within days of the incident.

Lyles just reached out to Vogelsong this past Saturday and left him a voicemail. However that call only came after Fox Sports passed along to Lyles comments from Vogelsong that were critical of the situation and Lyles specifically.

“The fact that he’s calling me now means zero to me,” Vogelsong said.

“There’s a time and a place for that. Obviously when the pitcher is hitting, if it’s late in the game and he’s trying to get a bunt down to move a runner into scoring position, it’s time to do some work up-and-in to keep the bunt from getting down. But I was always taught that going up-and-in on the opposing pitcher is a no-no.”

More specifically, Vogelsong was also frustrated with why that pitch was thrown there based on the situation. The count was 0-2 and the bases were loaded with one out in the second. Pittsburgh led 1-0, but Vogelsong didn’t believe an up and in pitch was necessary in the slightest.

What heightened Vogelsong’s frustration with Lyles was what Vogelsong read in the Denver Post later on. After the game in which the beaning occurred, Lyles told reporters he was “just trying to climb the ladder” and that meant getting his fellow pitcher out.

“First of all, that’s tough, getting hit up there,” Lyles said then. “Hopefully he’s good to go, and I hope he comes out of it OK and is able to get back to his teammates shortly … the pitch just ran in too much, too high.”

Looking back, Lyles had this to say.

“I had bases loaded, (one) out,” Lyles said in an interview Sunday. “Obviously, I would never try to (throw) intentionally at someone’s head or close to that region, especially another pitcher, especially a veteran like him. It just got away.”

While Vogelsong was frustrated with the pitch itself, it seems the veteran is still more mad he didn’t receive a phone call from Lyles sooner.

“He didn’t reach out to me,” Vogelsong said. “I understand when we’re on the field, it’s you vs. me, you do what you have to do to win a ballgame. But when it’s over with, at the end of the day I feel like as a major-league baseball player, we are all a big fraternity, part of this big family. There are only so many guys in the world who get to do what we do.”

With MLB increasing the warnings it hands out in regards to retaliation beanings, it’s unlikely the Pirates will retaliate. If they do, it will have to wait until next year. Pittsburgh and Colorado will not play each other again during the 2016 regular season, and the Pirates came out on top in five of their six games against one another.

[Fox Sports]

About David Lauterbach

David is a writer for The Comeback. He enjoyed two Men's Basketball Final Four trips for Syracuse before graduating in 2016. If The Office or Game of Thrones is on TV, David will be watching.