--- description: Pittsburgh outfielder Danny Ortiz was batting during a spring training game when he accidentally flung his bat towards a boy in the stands. title: Quick-Thinking Man Saves Kid from Getting Hit with a Baseball Bat image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Quick-Thinking Man Saves Kid from Getting Hit with a Baseball Bat  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Mar 7, 2016 8:22 PM CUT  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Mar 7, 2016 8:22 PM CUT Pittsburgh outfielder Danny Ortiz [was batting](http://time.com/4246583/ty-cobb-baseball-card-discovered/ "undefined") during a [spring training game](http://time.com/4160583/baseball-hall-of-fame-history/ "undefined") against the Atlanta Braves on Saturday when he accidentally [flung his bat](http://time.com/4074336/jose-bautista-bat-flip-baseball/ "undefined") towards a boy sitting in the stands. Luckily for the young fan — who was distracted by his cell phone — the man sitting next to him had quick enough reflexes to reach out and deflect the rogue bat before it could hit him in the face. Photos of the incident were captured by Pittsburgh Tribune-Review photographer [Christopher Horner](https://twitter.com/Hornerfoto1 "undefined"). > [](https://twitter.com/Hornerfoto1/status/706498326049464320) **Read More:** [Woman Hit by Bat at Red Sox Game Has Life-Threatening Injuries](http://time.com/3911585/fan-injured-red-sox-oakland-athletics/ "undefined") “I didn’t know what happened, if it \[hurt\] the boy or anything. I went home and my wife said to me, ‘You almost killed that kid!,'” Ortiz [told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review](http://triblive.com/sports/pirates/10100857-74/bat-ortiz-pirateshttp://triblive.com/sports/pirates/10100857-74/bat-ortiz-pirates "undefined"). “I saw the picture. It was crazy. That guy took \[a blow\] for the kid. The father, or whoever he was, he protected that kid.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4249992/man-saves-kid-from-baseball-bat/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4249992/man-saves-kid-from-baseball-bat/"},"headline":"Quick-Thinking Man Saves Kid from Getting Hit with a Baseball Bat","datePublished":"2016-03-07T20:22:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:30:46.159Z","description":"It was an extremely close call","url":"https://time.com/4249992/man-saves-kid-from-baseball-bat/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Sports topic","Baseball","Fans"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4249992/man-saves-kid-from-baseball-bat/","name":"Quick-Thinking Man Saves Kid from Getting Hit with a Baseball Bat"}}]}] ```