10:15 AM | An unusual injury to a Phillies top pitching prospect that is weather-related

[Hailstone photo from last week's storm taken in Reading, PA]

Discussion

I’ve been following baseball and the weather for a long, long time and I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of this kind of injury which probably should be put into the “what else can go wrong with the Phillies” department. Last Thursday’s hailstorm that pounded northern Chester County and much of Montgomery County in southeastern Pennsylvania first crossed over Berks County in east-central Pennsylvania. It is there where the Reading Fightin' Phils were preparing for their game that night when the fierce storm blew in producing amazingly large hailstones anywhere between the size of a golf ball and a baseball. Unfortunately, the Phillies top pitching prospect, Jesse Biddle, got caught outside at the beginning of the storm in Reading, PA and he got pounded on the head by one of these hailstones. Sure enough, he suffered repeated headaches over the next few days and missed his weekend start because of the after effects of this incident. He is listed officially as day-to-day. It is not surprising that a hailstone (see photo) from this particular storm could have this kind of effect as they were indeed incredibly large when the storm crossed Berks County before weakening slightly upon reaching southeastern PA.