This is the kind of injury that makes you wince just hearing about it. Baltimore Orioles manager Craig Albernaz suffered a broken jaw and at least seven cheek fractures after taking a foul ball directly to the face during a game. The gruesome injury is a stark reminder that baseball can be dangerous for everyone on the field—not just the players.

Let me paint the picture for you, folks. Albernaz is standing in the dugout, doing his job, managing the game. Then, in a split second, a foul ball rockets into the dugout and catches him flush in the face. The sound alone probably made everyone in the ballpark sick to their stomach.

A broken jaw. Seven cheek fractures. That's not a bruise. That's not a minor injury. That's a catastrophic facial injury that's going to require surgery, months of recovery, and probably leave Albernaz dealing with pain and complications for a long time.

Here's what bothers me about this: Major League Baseball has done a tremendous job improving safety for fans. They extended netting, they issue warnings, they've made stadiums safer. But what about the dugouts? What about the managers, coaches, and trainers who are literally feet from the field?

They're sitting ducks. One bad hop, one screaming line drive, and you've got a situation like this. And yet, there's been virtually no conversation about protective measures for dugout personnel. Why is that? Why do we wait for something terrible to happen before we address obvious safety issues?

I know what some of you are thinking: "It's part of the game. They know the risks." And sure, that's true. But we also thought concussions were "part of the game" in football until we realized we could do better. We thought pitchers taking line drives to the face was "part of the game" until we developed protective gear.

This is a human being we're talking about. A manager who's going to miss significant time. A man who's going to undergo surgery and face a brutal recovery. And all because he was standing in a dugout doing his job.

The severity of this injury is shocking, and it opens up a conversation about dugout safety that MLB hasn't seriously addressed. Should there be protective netting? Better helmets for coaches? Recessed dugouts that provide more cover?