Nationals clubhouse supports plan to extend netting

The Nationals were at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago last week when a foul ball went screaming into the stands down the third base line and struck a woman, who then needed to be hospitalized. Players had long expressed concerns about dangerous moments like that and supported the idea of extending protective nets at ballparks farther down the lines, and that incident only bolstered their opinion.

So today's announcement by managing principal owner Mark Lerner that the club will extend the netting at Nationals Park much farther down the lines and toward the left and right field corners was met with enthusiastic support inside the home clubhouse.

"I don't care what kind of athlete you think you are. It's really dangerous," reliever Sean Doolittle said. "It is. It's really dangerous. And it's something we've advocated for because we know how hard these balls are leaving the bat. We're only 55 feet away when we let the ball go. Sometimes that's really scary, too.

"Especially for a fan, when there's so many other things going around the stadium: advertisements, stuff on the video board, the mascots running up and down the seats, vendors. There's a lot of things competing for your attention. So I think it's unrealistic to say: 'Oh, you should just pay attention to the game.' C'mon, man. We've created this experience for fans. We have an obligation to make sure they stay safe."

The Nationals intend to install their new netting during next month's All-Star break. The current setup, which has nets stretching from the far end of each dugout, will be expanded well down the lines, to the point where the stands jut out and reduce foul territory.

In his letter to fans explaining the decision - which was made unilaterally and not under mandate by Major League Baseball - Lerner said the existing net will be replaced with Ultra Cross Knotless Dyneema netting, which offers "a higher degree of transparency than the traditional knotted netting." It will also be designed so that certain sections over each dugout can be raised pregame "to foster fan interactions with players."

That has long been a concern of fans, who enjoy the up-close access they get to players down the lines during batting practice and pregame drills. Doolittle understands that concern and believes players will make more effort now to accommodate fans in exchange for the expanded netting.

"We're very aware of that as players, and we know that's something we might have to get a little more creative with," the left-hander said. "But we're willing to do that in order to maintain fan safety, if that makes sense. ... We'll get good at throwing fade routes into the stands, or something like that. We're super-grateful that fans come out to our games. We're appreciative of that. We enjoy giving back to them. We're just going to have to figure out how to do that."

Lerner watched from afar earlier this summer when a 4-year-old girl in Houston was seriously injured by a foul ball that left Cubs outfielder Albert Almora Jr. (the batter at the time) in tears.

"I could not help but become emotional last month watching the Astros-Cubs game when a 4-year-old little girl was hit by a line drive," the owner wrote. "I can't imagine what her parents must have felt in that moment. And to see the raw emotion and concern from Albert Almora Jr. was heartbreaking."

And once the incident in Chicago took place last week with the Nationals in attendance, the motivation to make changes intensified. (The White Sox also announced plans Tuesday to expand their netting in response.)

"It's amazing it doesn't happen more often with the amount of foul balls that go screaming into the stands," first baseman Ryan Zimmerman said. "The last thing you want ... they just come to the park to enjoy a baseball game and something like that happens. That's not what you want to have happen. To me, it's a no-brainer."