Look out!

A baseball diamond can be a dangerous place. The Frontier League has proved as much this season.

While Major League Baseball has recently received much publicity for an alarming number of young pitchers suffering elbow injuries requiring reconstructive surgery, the Frontier League has had a rash of on-field injuries that have been even more serious and frightening.

For example:

• Florence third baseman Jacob Tanis, the Frontier League’s Most Valuable Player last year, is out indefinitely after being struck in the head with a baseball. Tanis was standing outside the Freedom’s dugout during a game last month at Evansville when he was struck in the head by a wayward pitch from a Florence relief pitcher who was warming up in the bullpen. Tanis has been on the disabled list since May 27 and is out indefinitely.

• Washington pitcher Tim Flight suffered two broken bones in his left (throwing) arm when he was hit by a line drive Sunday at Rockford.

• In a game Friday night against the Wild Things at Consol Energy Park, Joliet center fielder Chadwin Stang broke his left fibula while making a late and hard slide into second base on a double.

• Schaumburg pitcher Charle Rosario was struck in the head by a line drive that went into the Boomers’ dugout and suffered a concussion. He is currently on the disabled list.

• Perhaps the scariest incident happened Sunday at All Pro Freight Stadium in Avon, Ohio. During a game between Joliet and Lake Erie, base umpire Chuck Adya was struck in the head by a line drive off the bat of the Slammers’ Adam Giacalone.

“He hit that ball as hard as you can possibly hit one,” Joliet manager Jeff Isom said.

Adya, who was positioned behind the pitcher and just to shortstop side of second base, barely had time to react or protect himself. The umpire did duck his head just before the wicked liner struck him in the top of the head.

“You could hear the ball hit his head,” Isom said. “It was a sickening sound. That was the worst thing I’ve ever seen.”

Adya fell to his knees as the baseball ricocheted toward the bullpen down the right-field line. After receiving medical attention on the field for nearly 15 minutes, Adya was able to stand and was then taken to the Cleveland Clinic.

The ball hit the small metal button on the top of Adya’s cap, which caused a gash that required eight staples to close. Remarkably, Adya suffered no other significant injuries.

Adya is a Youngstown, Ohio, resident and umpires Frontier League games played in Washington and Lake Erie. He also is the umpire assignor for the Presidents’ Athletic Conference.

In college baseball and minor leagues that are affiliated with Major League Baseball, all base coaches are required to wear protective batting helmets. The Frontier League, which as an independent league is unaffiliated, does not require its coaches to wear batting helmets. Base umpires in all levels of college and professional baseball are not required to wear batting helmets.

“I’ve always said the hardest-hit balls are the ones hit back up the middle, not the ones pulled down the line at the coaching boxes,” said Isom, a former Wild Things manager who wore a batting helmet while coaching for six years in the Milwaukee Brewers’ system.

“I didn’t mind wearing a batting helmet, but if I had to wear one I don’t understand why a base umpire wouldn’t be required to wear one,” Isom said.