Mets first baseman Jared Young suffered a terrifying freak injury Thursday night when his face collided with pitcher Nolan McLean’s knee as the two were racing to a ball.
Young lay motionless, face down on the ground for several moments as players and medical staff raced to tend to him. Medical staff eventually put Young in a neck brace and placed him on a stretcher. However, the young first baseman’s troubles weren’t over yet.
The medical staff struggled with the stretcher and, at one particularly dangerous moment, shook it to expand it fully. A dangerous move, considering they had a patient with potential head and neck injuries in a neck brace.
The scene sparked shock and rampant online criticism, including from paramedics and other first responders who spared no venom in criticizing the medical team at Citi Field.
“As a paramedic, this is tough to watch. You’d think the Mets could spring the bill for an electric Striker cot, but still no excuse for the sloppiness from that crew,” one user wrote.
“As a paramedic – this was the most painful part of this entire accident. Like the three stooges out there. Smh,” wrote another.
“this literally could’ve killed him, they need to hire better medical personnel oh my God,” another opined.
Despite the medical crew’s struggles, Young gave a thumbs-up to the assembled crowd, and subsequent CT scans showed no serious injury to his neck or spinal cord.
The Mets lost to the Phillies, 3-0.