Blue Jays pitcher T.J. House expects to make full recovery after getting hit in head by line drive

Toronto Blue Jays reliever T.J. House has been released from the hospital, a day after he was hit in the head by a line drive during a spring training game.

House arrived at the ballpark from the hospital during Saturday’s game between the Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies.

“Obviously, it was definitely a rough day yesterday,” House said. “Whirlwind experience. And I’m doing a lot better than I thought I would be doing today.”

House was taken off the field in an ambulance Friday. He was struck in the ninth inning of a game against the Detroit Tigers and taken to Lakeland Regional Medical Center. Test results were normal and he was held overnight for observation.

“No fractures of the skull or anything, which is great, especially for the force it took,” House said.

Tigers Manager Brad Ausmus said “there was blood on his face, blood in the glove — everything.” He described it as among the most frightening things he has seen in a baseball game.

House was hit on the back of the head by a ball off the bat of John Hicks. The ball ricocheted about 30 feet into the air before being caught by catcher Mike Ohlman.

House fell to his stomach and was face down on the mound for nearly 20 minutes while being tended to by trainers. House was put onto a stretcher and gave a thumbs-up to the crowd as he was placed into an ambulance.

“I was just asking them when (the ambulance) was going to be here,” House said. “Could I please just get off the field. I just want to get out of here. That was the worst part, and not knowing what was going to happen to me. There are so many thoughts going though your mind. You just want to be OK and get out of there and be healthy.”

House will not do any activities for a few days.

“Then we’re going to go from there,” House said. “They have some tests I need to do. Concussion protocol tests, make sure everything’s normal. And that’s going to be progress day by day. We’re going to go as far as my body can take it.”

Etc.

Boston Red Sox left-hander David Price was ahead of schedule for the first step in his recovery from a sore elbow, throwing into a net in a batting cage. Manager John Farrell said Price made 25 easy tosses before a Red Sox split squad played the Tampa Bay Rays. “The range of motion, the freeness to the movement is all positive,” Farrell said. “It was just throwing into the net, just to get his arm moving — a little bit ahead of what we laid out yesterday. But that’s based on how he feels and the positivity towards it.” … After missing the first 13 games of spring training while recovering from sports hernia surgery in November, Elvis Andrus returned to shortstop for Texas, playing four innings without a fielding chance and going 0 for 3 as a Rangers split squad beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-1. Andrus grounded out twice and struck out. Texas started spring training 2-10 in Andrus’ absence. …

Testimony has ended in the Miami trial of a sports agent and a trainer accused of smuggling Cuban baseball players into the U.S. so they could sign lucrative professional contracts. The prosecution and defense rested Friday. Closing arguments are scheduled for Tuesday morning in the federal case against agent Bartolo Hernandez and trainer Julio Estrada, both of whom have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and alien smuggling charges. … Pittsburgh infielder Jung Ho Kang was placed on the restricted list by the Pirates while he’s delayed in South Korea by visa issues related to a recent DUI arrest. Kang received an eight-month suspended prison sentence last week after a DUI arrest in December, his third such arrest in South Korea. The sentence was suspended for two years. Players on the restricted list don’t count on either the 25- or 40-man rosters, and they’re eligible to be paid.

UPDATES:

2:20 p.m.: This article has been updated with more details as well as comments from T.J. House.

This article was originally published at 10:20 a.m.