Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Hunter Bigge had an extremely frightening moment during Thursday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles.
During the seventh inning of the contest at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa Bay, Fla., Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman was at the plate against Rays pitcher Connor Seabold. Rutschman fouled away a 3-2 offering from Seabold, and the ball made a beeline towards the Tampa Bay dugout.
Bigge, a reliever who wasn’t pitching on Thursday but was standing on the top step of the dugout, got struck in the face by the errant foul ball (measured at 105 mph). Here is the broadcast footage showing the immediate aftermath.
rays dugout omg… pic.twitter.com/erYD0n3ilz
— Bobby (@welcomeMLB) June 20, 2025
The 27-year-old Bigge eventually had to leave the field on a stretcher but was able to give a thumbs-up to fans as he was being taken off. No update was immediately available on Bigge’s condition though.
Shortly after the incident occurred, viral video surfaced on X showing the exact moment that Bigge was struck. The video was filmed by a fan in the stands and showed that Bigge was apparently looking away from the action at the time and took a hard tumble backwards after being struck. You can see that video at the link here.
Bigge is currently in his second MLB season after having spent the majority of his professional career up to this point in the minor leagues. So far this year, he has posted a 2.40 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP with 12 strikeouts over 13 total appearances. But Thursday’s scary incident brought back memories of the time that a former Rays player was also struck in the head by a foul ball into the dugout.
