Single A manager hit by McCann foul ball, taken to hospital

By TIM POVTAK
March 9, 2011
FOXSportsSouth.com

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - Luis Salazar, manager in the Atlanta Braves farm system, suffered numerous facial fractures Wednesday after being hit in the dugout with a line drive off the bat of catcher Brian McCann.

Although he was unconscious when he was taken from Champions Field by ambulance and quickly airlifted to Orlando Regional Medical Center - a sight that left both athletes and fans somber - he was communicating later at the hospital with doctors and family.

Salazar, 54, was knocked unconscious in the first inning of the Braves spring game against the St. Louis Cardinals. He was standing on the top step of the Braves dugout, alongside several other players and coaches, when McCann’s scorching line drive caught him by surprise.

The game was halted for 15 minutes when he was lifted out of the dugout at Champions Field on a stretcher and into an ambulance.

"I think everyone was just in shock," said Braves general manager Frank Wren. "We feel fortunate and blessed now that Luis is alive and responding to his family at the hospital. The scans have been positive to this point."

Wren said there was an eye-surgeon at the hospital and possible damage to Salazar's orbital bones. The rest of his condition was unclear, although Wren sounded positive.

Those in the dugout said while Salazar was lying unconscious, there was blood coming from both his mouth and nose and that his eyes swelled up and closed almost immediately.

"It was awful. He was knocked out the minute the ball hit him," said Braves veteran Chipper Jones, who was standing on first base when it happened. "A ball hit that hard, from that close a distance could kill you. And for awhile, we weren’t sure. I’ve seen a guy get hit in the nose with a 90 mph fast ball, and that was the worst on-field accident I had seen - before today."

Salazar is in his first year with the Braves organization but his ninth as a minor league manager in baseball. He was expected to be managing the Class A Lynchburg Hillcats in the Atlanta organization.

He played 13 seasons in the Major Leagues, with the Padres, White Sox, Tigers and Cubs.

McCann, hitting left-handed, was at the plate with a 1-1 count and two outs when he lined a ball into the first-base dugout, knocking down Salazar. The game came to a halt while players, coaches and emergency medical personnel rushed to his aid.

Wren said the Braves considered canceling the game because the situation looked so dire when Salazar was put in the ambulance.  Play resumed shortly after the ambulance left the field, but there was a hushed tone throughout the stadium at Disney’s Wide World of Sports.

McCann, who looked shaken by the scene, returned to the plate and immediately took a called third strike, then took himself out of the game. He went immediately to the hospital to check on Salazar, whose son was at the game.

"It was pretty sickening to see, the way he fell," said Kyle Lohse, who was pitching for the Cardinals in that first inning. "It shook up everyone who saw it. The ball just went off his face. It was hard for everyone to get refocused after that."