Baseball fans will be more protected than ever at Wrigley Field this season.
Saturday, Cubs president of business operations Crane Kenney announced the club is extending protective netting at Wrigley Field to the elbows of the ballpark. Essentially, it will stretch a bit past where the old on-field bullpens were and stop before the walls in the left and right field corners.
Kenney added the extensions will be ready by Opening Day.
Last month, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced all 30 ballparks will extend their netting for the 2020 season. Manfred didn't specify which teams would do what, but he said netting at each stadium would extend "substantially beyond the end of the dugout."
With pitchers throwing harder than ever and batter exit velocities are through the roof, fans have little time to react in the stands when a ball is launched their way. It's nearly impossible to avoid getting hit, even for those paying attention.
The Cubs have experienced this firsthand. In a game against the Astros last season, an Albert Almora Jr. foul ball struck a 2-year-old at Minute Maid Park. That young girl has a permanent brain injury, her family's attorney announced earlier this month, an injury that affects her body similar to how a stroke would.
Almora was visibly shaken after the incident and said Friday at Cubs Convention it weighed heavily on him for the first couple of days.
"After that I had no other choice but to move forward," Almora said. "But I always have that in the back of my mind. Every update that does come up, I am on there and I am seeing all of this."
Almora said he's tried reaching out to the family but is respecting their privacy. As a father of two himself, he said there's no reason to even think of his sons getting hurt while attending a game.
"Obviously prayers go out to the family. It's unfortunate, and like I said before, that should never happen on a baseball field."
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Cubs announce plans for extended protective netting at Wrigley Field for 2020 originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
