Line drives back to the pitcher are frightening. It's scary even watching them, never mind being in the sights of one. Daniel Norris, a Blue Jays pitching prospect playing for their Single-A affiliate, knows this firsthand, as only his ridiculously quick reflexes saved him from a horrific head injury on Thursday in a minor-league game between Norris' Lansing Lugnuts and the West Michigan Whitecaps:
The batter, David Gonzalez, thinks that he struck Norris because of the way the left-hander went down, but Norris is lying on the ground contemplating how lucky he is to not be hit. He gets up a few seconds later, and shows the ball in his glove, giving the umpire the chance to signal out and everyone else in the stadium to exhale.
Just watching this is making me anxious, and he didn't even get hit. The Whitecaps, on their YouTube page, named the video this GIF was made from, "Daniel Norris saves face (Literally!)" which will be funny once I convince myself he's going to catch the ball with his glove every time I watch.
Hat tip to Yahoo! and Big League Stew for the video.
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