Thursday was a scary day for youth baseball at Tomball, Texas. Ray DeLeon, a longtime baseball coach, suffered a severe head injury from a foul ball during a game. Following the injury, he was airlifted to the hospital for emergency medical care.

DeLeon was injured during a game at Premier Baseball of Texas ballpark on Cypress Rose Hill Road in Tomball, per Chron. A foul ball flew into the dugout and struck a youth baseball coach from behind in a bitter, unexpected moment. He suffered from significant head trauma and was also diagnosed with a severe concussion, per his family.

He is the founder of the Banditos Baseball Club. Established in 1994, the club conducts youth and high school baseball programs in the US. Their youth program nurtures baseball players aged between 9 and 14 years. DeLeon’s organization offers one of the best baseball coaching programs in the country. According to Perfect Game, more than 280 alumni of the Tomball organization have been drafted by the MLB. Paul Goldschmidt, Anthony Volpe, and Jameson Taillon are some of the famous Banditos players who made it to the big leagues.

Following DeLeon’s injury, his family has issued a statement on the official Facebook page of the Banditos. On Friday, the DeLeon family revealed that Ray is expected to make a full recovery. Alongside the positive update, they also thanked everyone for their support.

“We would like to thank everyone for the overwhelming support, prayers, and well wishes following a very scary accident last night,” the statement read.

Ray’s family also expressed their gratitude towards the emergency staff and on-field personnel for their immediate and timely action.

“We are incredibly grateful to the EMS personnel, first responders, coaches, Premier/PG staff, medical professionals, and everyone who acted quickly and helped during such a frightening situation. Your immediate response and care made an enormous difference,” the family wrote. “At this time, Ray is resting, recovering, and spending time with his family. While we are hopeful for a full recovery.”

Head injuries from foul balls are a growing problem in baseball. Coaches and fans near the field do not wear protective helmets. This leaves them vulnerable, and the chance of them getting hit increases. MLB has added more safety nets in recent years to protect fans in the stands. However, local youth parks’ safety equipment still has gaps. Because DeLeon’s club had not faced a major foul-ball injury like this before, the accident was a huge shock.

However, incidents also happen during MLB games. Last month, in a Mariners-Padres series in mid-May at T-Mobile Park, a foul ball from Sung-Mun Song’s bat went straight into the stands and struck a female fan on the head. The whole incident was caught on camera, as the ball hit Jamie Golla with a loud crack. She was treated at Harborview Medical Center as the Mariners staff checked up on her recovery. Golla escaped any serious injury and recovered well.

Head injuries in baseball do not just happen to youth coaches and fans. Major League pitchers face an equal, if not greater, risk on the mound.

The Royals place Seth Lugo on 7-day IL

In the fourth inning of the Royals-Rangers game on Wednesday, Seth Lugo threw an 85-mph pitch to Brandon Nimmo. With a velocity of around 107 mph, Nimmo’s line drive came straight back towards the mound where Lugo was standing. The liner hit him hard on his forehead, causing the pitcher to drop to the ground. It was a scary scene to witness.

As a result of the injury, Lugo now sports a golf ball-sized swelling on his forehead. Though he was initially reported to be doing well, the Royals have placed him on the 7-day IL on Friday following MLB’s concussion protocol. After Lugo went down on Wednesday, Nimmo showed sportsmanship by coming to check on his former Mets teammate. Nimmo reached first base and called for a timeout before going to Lugo.

The Royals’ head athletic trainer, Kyle Turner, checked Lugo on the field. As he exited the game under his own power, Lugo exchanged some words with Nimmo and assured him he was fine. He reportedly even joked with his former teammate. But he now appears to be suffering from a concussion. The Royals have called up Eli Morgan from Triple-A Omaha.

Before his injury, Lugo posted a 3.86 ERA with a 2-4 record across 14 starts this season.