Designed to serve as a break from spring training with the St. Louis Cardinals, a golf outing Friday for pitcher Marc Rzepczynski did not go quite as planned.
The 27-year-old reportedly collapsed after hitting a shot from the trees on the first hole that caused something to strike him in the left eye.
‘It was a freak, freak, freak thing,’ explained Rzepczynski, a left-handed reliever whose lengthy surname has earned him the nickname ‘Scrabble’ from teammates.
Details are still cloudy on exactly what struck the pitcher, who was left with a black eye and was still only regaining sight hours after the injury. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch report, Rzepczynski was unsure whether the projectile that struck him was the golf ball itself, a rock, an acorn or some other type of object.
‘It’s a little foggy, but it’s getting better every hour,’ noted Rzepczynski, who won a World Series title as a member of the Cardinals in 2011. ‘It’s a one-in-a-billion type of thing that happened.’
Doctors reportedly have told Rzepczynski that he is not expected to face permanent damage from the injury, instructing him to rest at home over the weekend before being re-evaluated Monday at the Cardinals’ spring training facility in Viera, Fla.