Can Stephen Piscotty Recover Mentally from the Collision?

Thankfully, Cardinals outfielder Stephen Piscotty is physically okay after his outfield collision with Peter Bourjos last night. Now, the team and its fans are left to wonder whether it left any mental scars.

It would for most people. The tendency to be tenative on fly balls in the aftermath of such a collision is just human

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nature. The subconscous shift to a more conservative approach overall would be perfectly understandable. And yet, the slightest hesistation from contact by Piscotty, whether on the bases or in the outfield, could cost the Cardinals in a key postseason game.

The good news? Baseball players aren’t most people. They’re much better than we are at getting over collisions like

this. Today, several outlets have used the Stephen Piscotty collision as an opportunity to highlight the worst outfield collisions in baseball history. Let’s look at how the more aggressive parties fared in the aftermath:

1.Earlier this year, Dodger rightfielder Yasiel Puig glanced off second baseman Howie Kendrick while going for a ball. He got clipped in the head and lay face-down for a few minutes. Puig’s sophomore season has been a bust, but not because of the collision. His hammies are the problem. Or one of them, at least.

2. In 2005, former Redbird rightfielder Carlos Beltran collided with Mike Cameron in the Mets outfield. Cameron, the better defender, got the worst of it and was lost for most of the season. But he won a Gold Glove with the Padres a year later and went on to play solid outfield defense for another five seasons before retiring in 2011.