As I was dozing off last night for my double header today (which got cut short due to marble-sized hail in June), something told me to watch out for a "comebacker" at the mound when I was pitching.
Comebackers are rare occasions when the batter hits the ball perfectly and like a missile at the pitcher, who either has to get out of the way or defend themselves with only their glove. There's literally only a fraction of a second to react. It's very dangerous and has only happened to me a few times in my life. Major League Baseball has actually experimented with helmet-like hats for pitchers to protect their heads from these scary events.
I've been hit by a missile comebacker once before, while pitching on the same mound years ago. At that time, it was with 2 outs in the last inning of a dominating complete game win I was pitching. I was one pitch away from getting the win unscathed, but the batter smoked the ball at my legs. All I had time to do was sort of turn my calf sideways so half of the ball got my bone and half got my muscle. With all sorts of adrenaline pumping, I got the last out, and the swelling began. I had a deep bone bruise on my calf for several months. It took about 9 months before it felt normal again.
As for last night's warning, I'm superstitious, so I knocked on wood and let the warning I heard sink in before falling asleep.
While pitching today, the premonition came true to an extreme.
The team's best hitter hit a 2-strike knuckleball as hard as a human can hit a ball with a wooden bat right at my face...
Within less than a blink, the ball was searing right in front of my eyes.
All catching instincts took over as I was guaranteed to have a broken face and vacation at the hospital if I missed it. I'm not embellishing in the slightest.
All I had time to do was put my glove up in front of my head and focus in the instant I had to work with. The margin for error was absolutely zero. It was either catch it, or get hit in the front of my face and severely hurt.
Thankfully, I stayed calm from my years of experience and the mental warning I felt last night. I squared up with confidence and caught the ball in front of my nose with no room to spare. I made it look easy, but it was only because my pitching follow through left me in the perfect position to be balanced to act. If I fell off to the side like many do, my glove hand would've been tucked under my body with not enough time to snap up to defend myself.
...Phew!
Since it was the third out of the inning (as everyone gasped in horror in anticipation of the worst case scenario if I hadn't handled it perfectly), I spiked the ball into the turf like a badass scoring a game winning touchdown. That got a rise from everyone who was buzzing about how terrifying it was. Aside from the spike, I was calm and collected. I somehow knew it was going to happen and was fully ready for it.
Even after the games at the bar, a few guys were still freaking out about how bad it could've been. The ball was easily going over 100 MPH and could've killed or blinded me if it hit my nose/eyes since I was facing it squarely.
Thankfully, I can doze off now after this post from my bed, and not a hospital.
PS. As for hitting, I was second in the entire league in RBIs coming into this weekend, and am currently hitting .380 through 13.5 games (the second game was cut short and will be finished later).
Knock on wood,
This pic was from last weekend. I didn't get any shots today.