You have heard it from a young age. Keep your eye on the ball.
That saying should probably be amended to include the words “unless you are about to fall over yourself.”
Red Sox catcher Christian Vazquez was uninjured on Wednesday after he ran into a movable protective netting while chasing a popup. Worst part is he did not get to the ball, though he did a good job of keeping his sunglasses on.
The netting was designed to protect bat boys from foul balls but it can now add catchers to that list.
Vazquez, 23, spent last season at Double-A hitting .289/.376/.396 with five home runs and 48 RBI. Throughout his minor league career he has thrown out 35-percent of would be base stealers, we can only assume the percentage of screen nettings is significantly higher.
