Study Finds Concussions Affect Baseball Players’ Hitting

Moodboard/Thinkstock(ROCHESTER, N.Y.) — It takes a while for Major League Baseball hitters to bounce back from a concussion, a new study has found.

After examining the records of 66 position players who suffered head injuries between 2007 and 2013, the study published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine reports that their batting average, on base percentage and slugging average all dipped noticeably in the two weeks after coming back from their concussion, as compared to what they were hitting before getting hurt.

As of now, Major League Baseball has a seven-day disabled list to allow players to recover from concussions, but there is actually no time limit as to how long they need to stay off the field. If they pass a protocol involving tests of physical and mental functioning, they can resume playing.

Although study author Dr. Jeffrey Bazarian of the University of Rochester says that a recovery rate of 90 percent is probably good enough to return to most professions, he argues that baseball players should be fully recovered before stepping up to the plate where fastballs often exceed 95 mph.

However, Dr. Gary Green, baseball’s medical director who questioned the study’s methodology, maintains that “the player association and MLB make the decision on return. If there’s any discrepancy, we have an independent neurologist give his opinion.”

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