I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen a catcher’s face this close up during a game. At any rate, I don’t remember ever seeing this expression on someone with all of that protective gear.

I thought it was necessary to leave the batter in the photo for context. The catcher isn’t cringing for no reason; the batter let go of the bat with one hand. The catcher was nailed by a thrown bat once so I suspect he was bracing for impact.

I got a kick out of the Spartan in the background during this game.  I’ve got about a zillion pictures to go through.  It would be interesting to do a montage of just him.

The big file.

Beautiful!