It is a fact that it is a shame this young man was beaned with a baseball this is not a new occurrence in youth baseball or professional baseball for that matter. It becomes the difference between a quick response with the glove or moving just out of the way and being nailed in the head somewhere or face specifically and I am speaking from experience.
When I was, young I played the pitcher's mound when we used the automatic pitching machine when a young boy my age with a wooden bat knocked a line drive right back at me and I failed to get my glove up fast enough. Many young males and probably females have at one time or another taken a ball to the face when a line drive is hit at them because frankly it happens.
We can turn around and ban aluminum bats for all amateur baseball athletes both male and female but there is still a possibility that this will happen. The ball might come off the bat faster with more kinetic energy but still its' going to happen eventually.
Teaching young ball players to move their glove in front of the ball and not to just slap their glove at the ball can work to eliminate the potential damage that has left this poor young player in the hospital in an induced coma with part of his skull removed to allow for brain swelling.
I would imagine infielders and pitchers alike at one time or another have taken a line drive that they either caught or it hit them somewhere as I have stated it is an unfortunate fact of the game no matter which bat players use.
During several pro games, I have seen a pitcher just barely snag the ball as it passed by their head at well over 100 mph off a wooden bat. It is about the response time and not always about the bat as players get stronger, pitch faster earlier in their careers this will most likely become a bigger issue.
It is time to stop coddling our athletes we all want our kids safe but there are parts of the game that make it what it is and avoiding them is practically impossible.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batted_ballhttp://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local-bea...http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,2903...