Baseball dad turns hero to save son from flying Pirates bat

Baseball is a sport of fast hands and lightning reactions, but the sharpest reflexes in last Saturday’s Spring Training between the Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates belonged to a father in the Champion Stadium stands.

And his young son got a wake-up call about the perils of excessive mobile phone use.

During the game, Pirates outfielder Danny Ortiz lost his grip on his bat, which flew towards the face of the oblivious eight-year-old, whose eyes were glued to his phone.

Fortunately, his alert dad in the next seat flung out an arm and deflected the bat away inches from the boy’s face.

The incident was captured in this incredible photograph, which Ortiz was later shown by his wife.

“I didn’t know what happened,” he told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review newspaper.

“I went home and my wife said to me, ‘You almost killed that kid!’

“I saw the picture. It was crazy,” Ortiz said.

“That guy took (a blow) for the kid. The father, or whoever he was, he protected that kid.”