Brewers Farmhand Mendez Hospitalized

Julio Mendez, a 20-year-old Brewers farmhand, was injured Saturday night and the Rookie-league Arizona League game he was playing in halted by emergency when he was struck in the chest with a pitch.

Mendez was batting against the Angels in the ninth inning with one out with the Brewers trailing 4-2. The third baseman was struck in the chest with a pitch by from Austin Krzeminski. Trainers responded quickly after Mendez went to the ground, and soon paramedics were called to Tempe Diablo Stadium just outside of Phoenix.

The Brewers issued a statement Sunday around noon Eastern Time that read:

“Last night, Julio Mendez, a member of the Arizona (R) Brewers affiliate, suffered a cardiac event after being hit by a pitch in a game played in Tempe, Arizona. After receiving treatment on the field, he was taken to a local hospital where he remains in critical but stable condition.”

“All of our thoughts and prayers are with Julio and his family,” Brewers general manager David Stearns said in the statement. “We will provide updates as soon as we know more.”

Eyewitness accounts posted to Twitter and online message boards describe a difficult scene including CPR and defibrillators being used to revive Mendez.

The Brewers signed Mendez out of Venezuela on July 2, 2013, and he came to the U.S. for the first time toward the end of the 2015 Arizona League season. The 19-year-old, listed at 5-foot-10, 140 pounds, has spent most of the past two seasons in the AZL and was hitting .255/.294/.355 at the time of his injury.

Krzeminski, who signed this year as a nondrafted free agent, tweeted after the game:

https://twitter.com/austinmichael_k/status/901689625374220288