Baseball increasing efforts to protect players from concussions

The Mets have been at the forefront of the recent attention to head injuries, with Ryan Church, David Wright and Jason Bay all missing significant time with concussions during the past three years.

Now Major League Baseball is stepping up its efforts to further protect the players and has set up a committee to re-examine the sport's protocols, which could include a seven-day disabled list for concussions next season, a person familiar with the situation confirmed on Thursday.

Under the proposal, the addition of a seven-day DL would allow teams to replace the injured player while they recover, and hopefully eliminate the incentive to rush that player back, which can lead to lingering post-concussion syndrome. On average, according to MLB's research on the matter, concussions can be resolved within four to six days. Currently, MLB's shortest disabled list is 15 days, which often makes teams reluctant to sideline a player for more than two weeks, as has been the case with the Mets all too frequently.

Dealing with concussions is not new for baseball, but it attracted more attention this season with Bay and the Twins' Justin Morneau missing much more time than originally was expected. Bay suffered his concussion on July 23 because of a whiplash-type collision with the leftfield bullpen gate at Dodger Stadium and did not return for the remainder of the season after the diagnosis a week later.

Initially, Bay's injury was described as a "mild concussion," but he could not stay symptom-free for more than 48 hours until late September, which made it impossible for him to play again this season.

The Mets have been criticized for their handling of concussions, specifically in the case of Church, who suffered two during an 11-week stretch in 2008. But MLB has guidelines in place to deal with head injuries, which include "neurophysical baseline testing for the management and treatment of concussions."

The league also has on retainer Dr. Alex Valadka, the Chief of Adult Neurosciences and Neurotrauma at the Seton Brain and Spine Institute in Austin, Texas, to consult with teams in regards to concussion protocols.