Romine Suffers Concussion

It has finally been revealed that Trenton Thunder catcher Austin Romine suffered a concussion as a result of the home plate collision with Altoona’s Travis Scott last Thursday night.

According to an e-mail from Mark Newman, Yankees Senior VP of Baseball Operations, Romine has in fact suffered a “mild concussion” and will be out for a minimum of seven days with a return TBA.  You may recall that Romine did not believe he had a concussion — “I’ve never had a concussion before, so I don’t feel any different.  They haven’t been throwing that word around, so it isn’t even something that’s crossed my mind, really,” Romine said. — but apparently all evaluations and tests had not yet been completed.

In the top of the eighth inning with Altoona leading, 4-1, Scott tagged up from third base and launched himself into Romine when Romine took away the plate from him.  Romine never was able to corral the ball and was sent flying to the ground, and appeared to be dazed for a moment (he was briefly on his hands and knees and appeared to be trying to shake off what had happened) before ultimately remaining in the game.  He has not played since.

It all sort of made sense that this could be a possible result.  According to Thunder manager Tony Franklin, trainer Tim Lentych asked if Romine could remain in the clubhouse during batting practice and other physical activities while the team was home…other injured players, like Melky Mesa (back), remained in the dugout but did not participate.  Given my hockey background, I know that the NHL recently instituted a policy where a player suspected of having a concussion during a game is to be taken to a “quiet room,” so he can be evaluated.  So Romine being kept in a quiet atmosphere made sense, but at the same time, you don’t want to make any assumptions until you have all the facts.

Mike Ashmore, mashmore98 AT gmail.com