Ryan Freel Is Crazy

About a week ago I gently poked fun at Jerry Narron's take on Ryan Freel playing center field. Narron said he'd never tell a player to slow down on the field. Keeping that in mind, this is what happened yesterday:

Reds center fielder Ryan Freel made an amazing catch Tuesday, but he paid a price for it. As he ran down Aaron Rowand's deep fly ball to left-center field at Bright House Network Field, he crashed head-first into the wall to make the catch.

He stayed in the game and finished the inning, but he suffered from spasms in his back and he left the game and returned to Sarasota.

So what does Narron have to say now?

"He hit the wall pretty hard," Reds manager Jerry Narron said. "It was a wonderful play, and he's going to make a lot of plays like that this summer. I know when he hit the wall, he was pretty sore. We'll see how he is in the morning."

Umm, Jerry? I think you're only encouraging him to keep running headlong into walls in meaningless games. Seems like a bad idea. Everyone makes a big deal about Freel in center as opposed to somewhere else and how that's more dangerous for him, but let's face it- baseball fields are surrounded with fencing. No matter where Freel plays it's only a matter of time before he runs straight into some of it.

Previously at the Fanhouse:
Ryan Freel and Farney Are Ready for Center