Jimmy Nelson Injury: Updates on Brewers Pitcher After Being Struck by Line Drive | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors
Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Jimmy Nelson suffered a head injury after being hit by a line drive against the St. Louis Cardinals on Sept. 17 and will not pitch again in 2015.
Continue for updates.
Nelson Shut Down For Season
Monday, Sept. 21
Manager Craig Counsell confirmed the news regarding Nelson's status, saying the pitcher had not suffered a setback, but that the risk outweighed the reward, via Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
On Sept. 18, Rosiak provided comments from Counsell, who said Nelson was "already raring to go." Despite that, the team opted against allowing him to take the mound for his scheduled start on Tuesday.
According to D.J. Short of NBC Sports' Hardball Talk, Nelson was hit on the right side of the head by a line drive off the bat of the Cardinals' Tommy Pham in the top of the third inning.
MLB.com provided video of the play:
According to Short, the exit velocity of the ball when it left Pham's bat was 108 mph. Nelson fell face down onto the mound, where he remained for a moment before rising to his knees. He was able to walk off the field.
Milwaukee third baseman Elian Herrera had to retrieve the ball after it hit Nelson. Herrera commented on his mindset, per McCalvy: "Really, really scary for me. What I saw was the ball hit right in his face. I worry for all my teammates, and when something like that happens, I was just praying for him to be OK."
He wasn't the only one worried. Pham barely remembered to run, as relayed by McCalvy: "Line drive like that and you see it go off his head, the first thing that went through my head was if he was all right. I had to kind of remind myself to run. That's the first time that's happened to me. It is kind of a big shocker."
Entering the game, Nelson was 11-12 this season with a 3.95 ERA on a struggling Brewers team unfortunate enough to compete in one of the best divisions in baseball, the National League Central.
Numbers aside, situations like these are certainly unnerving for pitchers and players alike around MLB. It's promising to see that Nelson has responded well from what was a scary few moments on the mound.
