clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Ty Hensley hospitalized after brutal attack, suffers broken jaw

By Jason Cohen
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

This is as close to a nightmare situation as you can get. It appears that Yankees prospect Ty Hensley has been hospitalized following a vicious attack over the holidays. His agent, Rob Martin of ICON Sports issued a statement on the family's behalf:

On behalf of Ty Hensley and his family, we are able to confirm that Ty was hospitalized after being brutally attacked and assaulted over the holidays in Oklahoma City.

Ty was treated and released from the hospital and is presently recovering at home from the injuries he sustained after being knocked unconscious in this vicious attack. Ty and his family are grateful for all of the support, thoughts, and prayers he's received from friends, fans, and well-wishers. We respectfully request privacy during this difficult time.

For those of us that know Ty best, this attack was shocking and disturbing both in it's severity as well as the fact that it could not have happened to a nicer, more good-natured young man. While Ty always handles adversity remarkably well, he's taken it to a new level in meeting this challenge head on. His pain tolerance, attitude, and determination to get back on the mound as soon as possible are literally off-the-charts. This is a young man with rare character and unbelievable toughness. Please direct all media inquiries to his attorneys Rob Martin (ICON Sports) & Jacob Diesselhorst (Maples, Nix & Diesselhorst). Thank you.

Mike Axisa over at RAB spoke to Diesselhorst, who provided some more details about the attack:

Hensley was jumped from behind and attacked while at a home in The Village, a suburb of Oklahoma City. Hensley was knocked unconscious and then beaten while unconscious. He suffered "pretty significant facial injuries," including multiple fractures to his jaw.

Hensley will press charges against the attacker(s) on what has been recommended as aggravated assault and battery charges. There's no telling how serious his injuries are at the moment, but he seems to be in pretty bad shape. Not many details are known at the moment, such as the reason for the attack, but we'll keep you posted when information becomes available.

Hopefully this doesn't keep the 21-year-old out of baseball for very long because it seemed like he was ready to return in full force after making a comeback in 2014 following double hip surgery the year before. This year he pitched to a 2.93 ERA with a 3.2 BB/9 and 11.7 K/9 in 30.2 innings between rookie ball and short season Single-A Staten Island.

Update

Maybe Hensley will be alright. After all, we've seen many players return to baseball after breaking their jaws and suffering extensive head trauma. Hopefully he's just as lucky.

Update 2

It sounds like it must have happened at a party and, even if the attacker isn't in custody, they know who it was.

Update 3

Josh Norris of Baseball America has some more definitive details about the incident:

Hensley and his attacker were together at the home of a mutual friend when the attacker found Hensley alone and struck him in back of the head, rendering him unconscious. The attacker continued beating Hensley until he was interrupted by a third person, at which point the attacker fled.

Update 4

Here is a local newspaper's report on the incident where they identified the attacker:

Hensley's attorney Jacob Diesselhorst said the right-handed pitcher was knocked unconscious and beaten early Dec. 28 by Anthony Morales, a former linebacker and running back for the Bulldogs who starred at Weber State and was briefly on the Carolina Panthers' roster in this season's training camp.

Update 5

Apparently the argument escalated from Hensley's grand crime of... not revealing what he got from the Yankees for his 2012 signing bonus. Really. This Morales guy sounds like a real piece of work.

More From Pinstripe Alley