Almonte's concussion the first under new league injury rules

MILWAUKEE -- It's certainly not a distinction anyone would desire or want to be remembered for, but the concussion Erick Almonte suffered Tuesday was a historic one. After being hit above his right eye by a thrown ball during batting practice before Tuesday's game, Almonte became the first major league player to be placed on the newly-instituted seven-day disabled list. After an offseason study by a panel of experts that included Brewers head athletic trainer Roger Caplinger, Major League Baseball adopted a set of specific protocols for handling player concussions. Among them were procedures for testing and clearing players, but most prominent was the establishment of the new DL. Previously, players had become hesitant to go on the 15-day DL with a concussion because actual recovery did not take so long. "It's too long," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said Wednesday. "Whoever came up with the seven-day DL had a really great idea. It's really smart for the player and for the team to have this seven-day option." With a seven-day DL, players can return after a normal recovery time with no extra wait or unnecessary rehab assignment. However, if a player remains on the seven-day DL for more than 14 days, he is then placed retroactively on the 15-day DL. "It's so much safer to put a guy on for seven days when maybe he only needs four or five, but to give him an extra two or three days to be safe is really smart," Roenicke said. Roenicke said if the new option did not exist, he likely would have just held Almonte out of games until he recovered rather than put him on the 15-day DL. That approach, though, would not have made Roenicke particularly comfortable. Almonte's injury prompted the early return of right fielder Corey Hart on Tuesday night. After the game, Almonte could not recall what had happened during the pregame incident. "I was taking the ball from Craig Counsell and the next thing I remember I was on the ground," Almonte said. "I just took my eyes from the ball for a couple seconds and boom, it hit me right in the forehead." The team's medical staff termed the concussion a Grade 1 and had someone spend the night with Almonte just as a precaution. Almonte said after the game he still felt dizzy and weak, but better. "I've never had a concussion in my life or been hit in the head," Almonte said. "It's pretty weird."