MLB: Praying for RedSox’s Bryce Florie

Less than 0.375 seconds was all the time he had to react, and try for his glove to be in front of the ball hitted by Yankees’ Ryan Thompson. At more than 96 mph, and at just 60 feets away all that Bryce Florie could do was feel the ball hitting his face, and shout.

It’s something you never think it could happen, and if it did, you never thought about watching it.

The 30 years-old pitcher now has three fractures around his right eye socket that will require surgery in the next weeks, apart from some retinal damage in the eye, which had some bleeding after the hit.

Even so Florie was lucky. The chance of the line drive coming right to the face of a pitcher are very small, but when it does, life and dead can be a matter of inches. It could have hitted him on the forehead, maybe fully in the eye, in his mouth, or his throat, but he probably is not thinking about it now, and will only after a few weeks, when surgery is done, and the pain will finally start easing.

It’s something you never think it could happen, and if it did, you don’t want to watch it again, and again.

In 1999 the Cal State Northridge pitcher Andrew Sanchez had his skull fractured by a line drive to his head, and now Bryce Florie. And even more, this last April I had my nose fractured by a line drive while I was pitching batting practice with my team in Chile.

I now consider myself a very lucky person, having 5 fractures on my nose, which now they doesn’t even notice thanks to a good surgery.

But maybe that’s not the worst part. I’m sure Florie loves the game as much as I do, and he will surely be playing again soon. That first game will be terrible. For my experience the very first at bat was frigthening, as well as every groud ball hitted to you; you think it will pop somewhere and jump right to your face again. I haven’t pitch since that, 5 months ago, and it will really thrill me to do so.

Now I just keep watching the replay, trying to see how much more he could have done to move, but there is just no human who can react like that, he couldn’t do more than move his glove instictly.

I’m feeling a little bit better knowing that Bryce Florie went to his home to rest, and I’m hoping the surgery will be as good as the one I had, and that he will feel better soon.

That pain is really something I won’t wish even to the worst of my enemies.

-The author has played for the Chilean National Baseball Team as an infielder, and used to pitch bating practices.-