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.
At the hospital, Calhoun was diagnosed with a fractured jaw.
Texas manager Chris Woodward and general manager Jon Daniels left during the game to be with Calhoun at the hospital.
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.