Taking a pitch to any part of the body is never a comfortably experience. With major league pitchers slinging 80mph balls at the minimum, even an off-speed pitch can hurt a ton. During a fateful July game, though, Los Angeles Angels outfielder Taylor Ward suffered the worst kind of HBP: an unintentional 92mph sinker to the face from Blue Jays pitcher Alek Manoah.

Since then, Ward has been on the mend, recovering from the truly terrifying injury. In his first public comments since the injury, the Angels hitter opened up on the injury and his recovery to The Athletic. Ward had this to say about the moments inside the ambulance after the incident.

“I don’t remember how it felt up until I could feel how it felt,” he said. “So much was going through my mind at the time that I wasn’t really thinking about the pain anymore.”

The good news for Ward is that he avoided the two biggest dangers of getting hit by a pitch to the head. He was not diagnosed with a concussion, and his eyesight wasn't impacted. However, the damage to his skull necessitated surgery. The Angels hitter had three facial fractures: one underneath the eye, one on his temple, and one by his jaw.

Until now, Ward is still miles away from reaching normalcy in his life. A month after his surgery in August, the Angels star still can't drink out of a straw. He also can't blow his nose due to fractures. The pitch also left a permanent mark on his face: a slight curve on his nose.

Still, Taylor Ward remains optimistic about this injury. The only wish that the Angels star (who was in the midst of a breakout season) has is that this incident does not affect his hitting abilities. The hit by pitch was obviously a traumatic experience, but Ward would sooner or later be forced to relieve the same circumstances. He'll need to look off those pitches that go inside and up again. Just because he went through this experience doesn't mean that pitchers won't throw similar pitches to him.

“(I’ll) try to basically get as comfortable as I can and forget what happened,” said Ward, who hopes that adding a new C-flap to his batting helmet will help allay any lingering fears. “Put that in the back of your mind and let other thoughts take control.”