‘Ridiculous’ Astros Stadium Under Fire After $7.8M Angels Star Suffers Scary Facial Injury

There’s been a lot of back-and-forth about player safety on the diamond, and padding along the fence line is always one of the hot-button issues. If you remember, just last month, Yankees infielder Amed Rosario landed on the 10-day IL after spraining his sternoclavicular joint when he slammed into the right-field wall at the Astros’ Daikin Park. And now, in what feels like deja vu, that same ballpark has claimed another outfielder.

Reportedly, on Sunday, the Angels blanked the Astros 3–0 at Daikin Park, but the win came at a cost. Taylor Ward, who’s been a 30-homer threat, ran face-first into the scoreboard on the left-field wall. The result? He left the field bloodied, carted off with towels pressed against his face. And that was enough to set off his teammate, Jo Adell, who didn’t hold back his thoughts about the dangers of the Astros’ home park.

“Bottom line — and I’ve talked about this before — but there should be no out-of-town metal scoreboard anywhere on the baseball field. It’s the big leagues. This sh– is ridiculous. A guy goes back to make a play, and he’s got to worry about a metal fence. That’s crazy. So that’s my honest opinion about it. He did everything he could to make a play, and he gets beat up by something that’s beyond controllable.” Adell shared his thoughts on the safety across all the diamond parks.

So, the incident happened in the eighth inning of the Angels’ 3-0 win. Reportedly, Ward was tracking down a deep drive from Astros second baseman Ramon Urias when he turned and smashed head-first into the metal scoreboard on the left-field wall. Later, according to the Angels, his right eye looked fine, but he had a nasty cut above it that required stitches. Additionally, details about the injury remain unclear, although Ward had to be taken to a local hospital by ambulance.

Well, we can’t blame Adell for speaking up. Outfield collisions with the wall are part of the game, and that’s why we see padding everywhere else. But having a hard sheet of metal right at face level? That’s practically inviting a serious injury.

Astros’ home park just reflected an important safety concern

Well, MLB doesn’t have one universal rule when it comes to outfield padding. Instead, it’s handled mostly at the local level, with each ballpark setting up its own standards. And if you are not aware, the rulebook does require padding on obviously dangerous materials like brick or concrete. But beyond that, a lot of areas are left exposed. And that’s where the problem comes in.

The recent incidents at the Astros’ Daikin Park really highlight what players and coaches have been warning about for years. That padding only matters if it actually covers the dangerous spots. Yes, outfielders know running into the wall is part of the game, but when you’re dealing with hard metal surfaces sitting right at head level, the risk jumps from routine collision to potentially career-altering.

Lastly, for the Astros’ ballpark, which has been around since 2000, it feels almost like luck that nothing worse has happened before this year. But with two serious injuries in nearly the same fashion just weeks apart, Daikin Park’s safety setup isn’t just a talking point anymore, but an issue that demands fixing.