Rockies pitcher has skull fracture, concussion after being struck by line drive

Colorado Rockies pitcher Ryan Feltner suffered a fractured skull and a concussion after he was struck in the head by a Nick Castellanos line drive on Saturday night, the team announced on Sunday. 

As bad as that sounds, Rockies manager Bud Black said that Feltner is doing fine and the feeling is that it could have easily been a lot worse. Feltner was placed on the 15-day IL for the time being, while the Rockies are expecting he could be out closer to months than weeks. 

The incident happened in the second inning of Saturday's game when Castellanos hit a 92.7 mph line drive back at the mound that Feltner was unable to avoid. The ball hit Feltner on the back right side of his head. 

He was eventually able to walk off the field with assistance, but he remained on the field for several minutes while Rockies trainers tended to him. 

The Rockies said the main thing for Feltner in his recovery will be waiting for the fracture to heal and for his concussion symptoms to diminish. 

Feltner has a 2-3 record with a 5.86 ERA this season.

It is a harsh reminder as to how fast baseball's travel and how dangerous they can be. No matter how much attention you are paying, how focused you are or how quick your reactions are there is not much you can do when a ball is hit directly at you from that close of a distance. The ball that hit Feltner was not even one of the hardest hit balls we see in baseball. Players routinely hit the ball over 100 mph these days. Fortunately for Feltner, he is going to be okay after the scary incident.