The Guardians announced Wednesday that designated hitter David Fry, who was hit in the face by a 99 mph fastball from Tarik Skubal last night, will not require surgery. He’ll still be out six to eight weeks, but the 29-year-old has thankfully avoided any catastrophic injuries. The team’s statement reads as follows:
“Imaging and clinical examination have confirmed that David Fry sustained multiple, minimally displaced, left-sided facial and nasal fractures. While the injury will require close monitoring, including serial assessments, David is expected to fully recover over the next 6-8 weeks without the need for surgery. David was recently discharged from the Cleveland Clinic and is resting comfortably.
The Cleveland Guardians would like to express gratitude to several groups who were intimately involved in the emergent care and treatment of David during last night’s game: Physician’s Ambulance, caregivers at Lutheran Hospital and Cleveland Clinic emergency departments, and the nurses and physicians at CCF working in the ENT and plastic surgery departments. Thank you all for your professionalism, expertise, and compassion.”
Fry came to the plate with runners on the corners and no outs against Skubal in the bottom of the sixth. Attempting to bunt on a 2-1 pitch, Fry was unable to avoid that blistering heater and immediately dropped to his back with his hands covering his face. Skubal was visibly distraught after throwing the pitch. Fry was eventually helped to his feet and carted off the field.
That frightening scene overshadowed what has become an unexpectedly heated race for an AL Central division that looked to be a foregone conclusion not long ago. Cleveland went on to win the game, though the thoughts of everyone on the club were surely with their teammate even as they drew to a first-place tie with the Tigers. Not only has Cleveland incredibly won 17 of its past 20 games — they’ve done so as Detroit has dropped seven in a row and 10 of its past 11 contests. What was a 9.5-game division lead as recently as Sept. 10 has completely gone up in smoke.
The bigger takeaway, of course, is that Fry won’t need surgery and somehow managed to avoid a calamitous injury despite the impact of that pitch. The injury will still end what has been a frustrating season for the late-blooming slugger. After breaking out with a .263/.356/.448 slash and 14 homers in 392 plate appearances as a 28-year-old in just his second big league season last year, Fry underwent offseason elbow surgery that kept him shelved into early June.
Cleveland controls Fry through the 2029 season, and he’ll be arbitration-eligible as a Super Two player for the first time this winter. For the time being, Fry has obviously been placed on the 10-day injured list. Outfielder Johnathan Rodriguez was recalled from Triple-A Columbus to take his spot on the active roster.
Every Major League Pitcher who injures a Major League Hitter with an errant pitch should be suspended for as Long as the Major League Hitter is Unable To Play Due to Injury
Uh, no. Accidents happen. If Fry hit Skubal with a line drive would you be making the same argument?
Sounds like victim blaming to me
Ah, I see you are trolling and I took the bait.
Not a troll, just a teller of truths.
If your IQ is too low to understand my point, maybe you shouldn’t chime in
Good plan. Replace the playing of a game with interpretations of nuance (overseen, no doubt, by lawyers).
Was it errant …or deliberate? If you COULD prove intent, would the penalty be scaled up accordingly? You know, like all the way to Attempted Murder ….
Look, you’re on this crusade but not realizing that Fry BUNTED the ball into his own face.
So while you insult others for their IQ please note that a double digit one isn’t a gold standard.
@Steve: I don’t really agree, but my first reaction is, why all the upper-case letters? Are you unfamiliar with the rules governing capitalization? Capitalization is not a matter of style; there are rules, conventions that effective writers follow.
Alan53, he’s trolling by parodying that ad nauseam comment “Jacksson13” does for every HBP article.
For a negative Cubs fan, you’re quite dense.
Stein…leave Alan alone please…I’m sure we are only moments away from learning that Skubal hitting a batter is going to be the start of the Cubs missing the playoffs. He needs no help. Well, he needs a lot of help, just none when it comes to trolling.
Read Rule 8 of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation if you are confused about capitalization rules! I am right and you are Wrong!!!
Yeah! And a foul ball off the toe resulting in hitter injury should force a pitcher out too. Glad you aren’t running the sport😂
Was that really an errant pitch? Fry was obviously going to bunt so Skubal threw up and in like all other MLB pitchers do in that situation.
If Fry was in a normal batting stance he doesn’t get hit by that ball.
@HalosHeavenJJ
That’s what it looked like to me. Up and in fastball and just the way he’s bunting, he doesn’t have time to react and got hit.
Was by no means errant. Fry was squaring to bunt when he was it. It was truly awful to see and I saw it I’ve. But there is no way Skubel threw an errant pitch. If anyone saw his reaction to Fry getting hit you’d know this was nothing more than a horrible accident. Very thankful Fry is going to be aright.
Get a life. If you think he threw at him…youre mistaken.
This is the most moronic post I’ve seen in a while (not to mention the nonsensical Trumpian capitalizations throughout).
That wasn’t even an errant pitch—did you actually watch it? It was only a little inside, less so than many of the other inside fastballs he understandably threw to righties yesterday. To act like that was on the pitcher in any way shows how little you understand this game.
Even if it was an errant pitch (100% wasn’t), that doesn’t mean it’s the pitcher’s fault. Stuff happens. Intentionally beaning a hitter and injuring them is a different story and might warrant a punishment like that, but that has no bearing on what happened last night. It’s just baseball, man.
That was scary. Glad he’s going to be okay.
Scary moment indeed. Always horrible when a player is struck in the face
This is the best possible outcome for Fry but ouch. Speedy recovery!
That was horrific to see.
Glad there’s no long term injury there.
I don’t consider that a pitch to the face. He squared, exposed himself and it was a foul ball. Not pitchers fault.
No one’s fault. It happened as a baseball injury.
It’s like the Mets blaming the NL East for not having an easy road to the postseason.
Easy to understand Skubal pulling the fastball a bit when seeing Frye square to bunt.
Frye was just very locked in and in a difficult position to bail. Tough break in a playoff race, but I don’t see anything beyond a normal baseball play here.
Could go the direction of some little league and youth leagues by having batters where a helmet with a face guard like they wear in the NFL.
I’d even let pitchers and fielders wear more protective equipment since they make so much money nowadays to prevent injury. I’m tired of almost nobody ever playing 150+ games or pitching 200+ innings nowadays
Don’t believe that wearing “more protective equipment” would lessen the amount of injuries pitches regularly suffer. UCL injuries, torn and strained rotator cuffs, forearm tightness/neuritis, biceps, obliques, TOS, finger, hand and wrist injuries. Hitters already come to the plate armored to the hilt. Would NFL style faceguards impede hitters ability to see the ball?
Best wishes to Fry in his recovery. All hitters past and present could see that situation happening.
I’m pretty sure that no one on earth outside of Fry’s family feels more badly than Skubal. Skubal is a 100% class act and no pitcher (especially with a 100+mph fastball) wants to hit someone in the face.
That was horrifice to watch. Glad that he wasn’t seriously injured.
The replay shows the ball being defected from the bat to his face. It was an inside pitch, but all of the pitches to RH hitters were inside. Skubal did have a bit of control issues in the fifth inning with some pitches well into the LH batter’s box. He also attempted a strange behind the back throw to first that did not go well.
No way Skubal threw at Fry.
Why does the article make it sound like Skubal hit him in the face? Fry bunted it into his own face. He has had time to correct his post to clarify but has not.