Pittsburgh Pirates Made Wrong Call With Jameson Taillon’s Head Injury

The Pittsburgh Pirates made the worst possible choice by leaving Jameson Taillon in the game after he was struck on the head by a hard-hit line drive.

On Tuesday night, the Pittsburgh Pirates had a scary moment after future ace Jameson Taillon was struck on the head with a 105 mph line drive off of the bat of Milkwaukee Brewers utility man Hernan Perez. Taillon fell to the ground and stayed there, eventually sitting up as the Pirates’ trainers and manager Clint Hurdle looked on.

Everyone at PNC Park collectively held their breath, recalling similar incidents in which pitchers have suffered severe injuries. Then, to the amazement of nearly everyone, Taillon asked for his glove, tossed a few warm up pitches, and was allowed to remain in the game.

On social media, Taillon has been hailed for his “toughness” and called a “gamer” for his willingness to stay and pitch nearly five more innings after the incident. Sure, they’re not wrong. Not every player can stick out an injury like that and perform well on top of it, considering he allowed just one run and five hits throughout the game.

But Taillon is 24 years old and a rookie. He made his debut just over a month ago, and almost immediately landed on the disabled list. No young pitcher wants to come out of a game in the second inning, especially the day they return from a different injury.

That’s why the decision to let Taillon stay in the game, rather than removing him as a precaution, was negligence on the part of Clint Hurdle and the Pirates’ medical staff.

If you haven’t already seen it, take a look at this video:

Head injuries are serious business. Brandon McCarthy is perhaps one of the most well-known cases of a pitcher being hit by a line drive. McCarthy, then a member of the Oakland Athletics, was severely injured when he was struck in the head by a ball in 2012. He suffered an epidural hemorrhage, a brain contusion and a skull fracture. The life-threatening injury required two hours of surgery to relieve pressure on his brain, and it was days before the pitcher was considered in truly stable condition.

Yet, shortly after the game, Yahoo Sports writer Kevin Kaduk wrote this about the incident:

“Though it was hard not to fear the worst after hearing the sickening thwack of the ball meeting his skull, McCarthy rose to a sitting position where he was attended by a trainer before leaving the field under his own power. The team’s official Twitter account then passed along the encouraging news that McCarthy had never lost consciousness and had only been taken to a hospital for precautionary reasons. “

Had McCarthy stayed in the game like Taillon, what would have happened? The A’s trainers thought he was (relatively) fine, and it was only upon further testing at a medical facility that the extent of his injuries – which literally could have killed him – were discovered.

But the Pirates are comfortable saying that Taillon passed concussion protocol tests, and Hurdle is comfortable passing the buck to his medical staff rather than making an executive decision to pull Taillon himself?

Baseball players are competitive by nature. No one wants to be known as the player who spends all of their time on the disabled list, so of course a young rookie is going to say that he’s fine. He wants the chance to play, and he may even have felt fine at the time because there’s bound to be a jump in adrenaline when a baseball is hurtling toward one’s head.

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Medical staff, however, should know that concussions and other head trauma aren’t always immediately apparent – and they should be aware that depending on a player for correct information is not foolproof.

Just last week, the San Francisco Giants lost Joe Panik to the seven-day disabled list after he was diagnosed with delayed concussion symptoms a week after getting hit in the head with a pitch. CSN Bay Area reported that Panik told a local radio station he “should have been a little more honest” with trainers:

“At the time, my adrenaline is kind of pumping. I told them, ‘Listen. I’m fine. I’m good.’ I passed certain tests that I had to do. The net day I woke up, the headache was still there, certain things were still there. I just thought I was gonna pass. I was playing through certain things which I really shouldn’t have.”

Later in the interview, he added this: “Just stupid on my end, but at the time, you think you’re gonna be fine. Obviously it just got to the point where I had to say something.”

Hopefully, Taillon was telling the truth, but why take a chance in an effort to win one game? The Pirates gambled with not just his future, but with his health and his life.

Major League Baseball needs take a serious look at the protocols they have in place for head injuries. The NFL has shown that concussions and other head trauma can have a serious impact on the mental and physical health of players down the line. MLB and the players’ union need to have a conversation about whether there should be standard policies in place in the event a pitcher or batter is hit in the head.

Next: A's face interesting decision

To leave the choice in the hands of a team like the Pirates, who clearly valued winning over being cautious with Taillon’s health on Tuesday, is a risky decision. Would that win have been worth it to Clint Hurdle and the rest of the Pirates’ staff if Taillon had been as unlucky as McCarthy?