At Wednesday’s New York Yankees-Minnesota Twins game, a young fan was struck in the face by a baseball.The incident took place in the fifth inning, as she sat behind the third base dugout with her grandparents. As the fans and players began to realize what just occurred, the game was stopped for a few minutes: players on both sides knelt down or stood in distress.  

The little girl was taken to New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center with a bloodied face. Later that evening, the little girl’s father and grandfather came out to talk to the reporters briefly about the incident.When the father was asked if his daughter needed surgery he said, “It’s too early to tell.” No information was given on the name of the family, nor the condition of the little girl. But on Friday the little girl’s father stated that she was stable. 

This was about the third time this baseball season that a fan at the Yankee Stadium had been struck either by a foul ball or a shattered bat during a game. Each time, an incident that occurred like this one, it added to the debate on what Major League Baseball should do to better protect its fans.

In 2015 commissioner Rob Manfred prodded the teams to extend the traditional protective netting; all 30 teams agreed, but the Yankees have yet to expand theirs. If the netting had stretched as far as the third base dugout the ball wouldn’t have reached the stands. Joe Girardi, the Yankees manager, stated, “Our players were very disturbed… I do think the fans are closer to the home plate now, and that might need to be something that needs to be evaluated.” 

The team was said to be “seriously exploring” the option of extending their netting for 2018, and this incident has definitely increased the pressure to do so.