Baseball fans have expressed their concern for Cleveland Indians star Josh Naylor as he was was left writhing on the turf in agony after he landed awkwardly following an on-field collision with teammate Ernie Clement.
Naylor, 24, appeared to suffer a bad break to his lower right leg at the bottom of the fourth inning after he and Clement both attempted to field a ball from the Minnesota Twins' Jorge Polanco, with both players running into one another at full steam.
The ensuing high-speed collision sent Naylor cascading through the air before he landed on his right leg at an awkward angle, with replays subsequently showing that his lower leg appeared to give way - leaving the player rolling around on the field in extreme pain as concerned teammates struggled to compose themselves.
The footage, as you'll see below, is certainly not for the faint of heart.
WARNING: GRAPHIC
Naylor received treatment on the turf for several minutes before he was removed on a stretcher, with his right leg in an air cast. Clement, meanwhile, was unhurt following the incident.
"We know that there's a fracture," Cleveland boss Terry Francona told the media after the game. "Other than that, he's being evaluated over at the hospital right now. We'll know more, I hope, in a couple of hours. We're not even sure if he can travel home with us."
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli also spoke of his sorrow at the gruesome injury and said that players from both teams had been affected by it.
"That's obviously playing out in front of anyone's eyes," Baldelli said.
"You can't, you know, once you see that, you're not going to unsee it, and it brings out feelings, too, and it's hard for people to sometimes regardless of what team you're on, refocus, and there's a lot of people that care about that young man, and we'll be thinking about him as time goes on."
Naylor's teammates appeared to agree with Baldelli's assertion.
"To be honest, it was really, really hard," said the Indians' Rene Rivera.
"The way he reacted, it was heartbreaking, man. It's hard. A guy like him, nice guy in the clubhouse, really a lot of energy, positivity, and to see him go through that was really tough. You can tell the teammate, the full dugout was really shook."
"Just a brutal, brutal collision. Naylor writhed around in the outfield grass like a fish out of water," came the thoughts of baseball writer Zack Meisel, while another MLB fan simply described the incident as "sickening".
"Excruciating replays, watching that collision with Naylor and Clement. Thoughts and prayers with Josh Naylor right now.. incredibly gruesome injury," Indians beat reporter Jensen Lewis summed up.
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