NEW YORK — One day after he was struck in the face by a line drive, pitcher Bryan Mitchell was placed on the seven-day concussion disabled list by the New York Yankees on Tuesday.
Sporting a large bruise under his eye and tape across the bridge of his nose, Mitchell was in good spirits as he discussed the moments after he was knocked down by a line drive off the bat of Minnesota’s Eduardo Nunez.
“Obviously, hit in the face, so, kind of sore up here,” Mitchell said, pointing to his face. “But, for the most part, I think it could have been a lot worse. I feel like I’m in a way better spot than I could be.”
Mitchell was knocked down by the liner, with the ball caroming into center field for an RBI single for Nunez. Mitchell was on the ground for over a minute but was able to walk off the field escorted by members of the Yankees training staff.
“It was an 0-2 slider,” Mitchell said. “Tried to get it off the plate and it dove out off the end of the bat, but obviously I never saw it. Soon as it hit me, I knew I had just gotten hit, but my eyes were OK, my jaw was OK, so I knew I was basically alive, and I said, ‘I’m all right, let’s just get me off the field,’ and that was it. It was pretty quick.”
Mitchell said the ball hit his hat before connecting with his face. He showed the media how the cap was completely bent forward where the ball had it.
“Bill of the cap, then my face, then center field,” he said jokingly.
Mitchell sustained a concussion last month while with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He was working out with bands attached to a door, which flew open and caused him to fall backward and hit the back of his head. He said he did not have similar symptoms after Monday’s incident, and the move to the DL was precautionary.
“I think, for the most part, they were playing it cautious,” he said. “I saw the neurologist today, but given that we had the concussion a month ago down at Scranton, just kind of trying to play it safe, but as of now, everything seems to be pretty good.”
“I think he’s in pretty good spirits and we are really fortunate,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “He probably has a bit of a concussion from being hit last night and he just came off of one, so there was concern on our part.”
In other moves, the Yankees selected Chris Capuano to the 25-man roster and recalled reliever Nick Rumbelow, both from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Pitcher Caleb Cotham was optioned to Triple-A, as well.
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