Details on the impact to a two-year-old of a foul ball to the head have emerged nearly a month after the incident occurred at Houston's Minute Maid Park.
A lawyer for the child's family told USA Today Sports that the girl suffered a skull fracture and experienced a seizure resulting from the foul ball off the bat of the Chicago Cubs' Albert Almora, who was visibly shaken by the May 29 ordeal. The girl was seated on a relative's lap in Section 111, located down the third-base line and just beyond the netting that protects adjacent Section 112 — the farthest from home plate of three sections located behind the visitors' dugout.
Related: Netting Needs Highlighted After Child Hit by Foul Ball
Last season, all 30 Major League Baseball teams expanded their protective netting to at least the far ends of the dugouts. The Chicago White Sox and Washington Nationals have already announced plans to extend the netting to the left- and right-field foul poles. Dodger Stadium — site of two foul ball injuries, including one fatality resulting from an "acute intracranial hemorrhage," since last August — will see its netting coverage expanded, the Los Angeles Dodgers announced this week, though the final configuration has yet to be determined.
Related: Dodgers Will Expand Netting After Fan Hit by Ball
According to Houston attorney Richard Mithoff, the child struck by Almora's foul ball experienced subdural bleeding, bruising and swelling as a result of the skull fracture. The seizure came while the girl was hospitalized. She was medicated to assist her recovery. “The family’s foremost concern is about the health of their child, but they also wanted me to extend their thanks to the fans and the Astros for their concern,” Mithoff said in a statement to USA Today Sports.
