Parmelee bouncing back after scary beaning

The shiner under Chris Parmelee's right eye is nearly gone.

"I'm very fortunate," Parmelee said. "It could have been a lot uglier than what it was."

The Twins rookie first baseman has been cleared to resume playing baseball after being on the wrong end of a scary beaning Wednesday at Target Field with a pitch thrown by Red Sox lefthander Justin Thomas. The ball hit the bill of Parmelee's helmet, deflected down and struck Parmelee above his eye. A couple of inches lower, Parmelee continues to think, and he could have been struck directly in his eye.

Parmelee has seen teammates get beaned before. That includes Ben Revere, who was hit in the face while they played at Class AA New Britain in 2010 and suffered two orbital fractures. He also saw Brian Dozier get hit last year.

"It's scary," Parmelee said. "It's something not to mess around with. It could end someone's career. I'm not saying [Thomas] did it on purpose. I wouldn't wish that on anybody. It's not fun."

Hitters have less than a half-second to determine whether or not to swing at a pitch and probably less than that when a third option -- get out of the way -- presents itself. Lefthanded hitters are used to seeing pitches come at them from lefthanders like Thomas before breaking over the plate -- they hope.

"I kind of stayed in there a little too long than I should have," Parmelee said. "I didn't know if it was a slider or something that was just hanging up there and was going to come back [over the plate]. It was a little bit too late by the time I realized it was coming right at me."

Doctors sent Parmelee home after Wednesday's game. His wife, Amanda, had orders to wake him up every couple of hours or so to make sure his condition hadn't worsened.

"It was getting swollen up there," Parmelee said. "I had headaches, a massive headache in that area where I got hit. I was just looking out for signs that would lead to a concussion, but nothing. No nausea, nothing."

Parmelee is one of the fortunate ones. He was checked again Thursday by doctors, who didn't detect any problems. By Saturday, he was available to play but was not in the starting lineup as another lefthander, Bruce Chen, was scheduled to be on the mound for the Royals before the game was rained out.

"Parmelee's OK," manager Ron Gardenhire said. "We're going to still back him up another day here. We've got a lefty going. I don't see any sense in it. He took a good whack. He's got a black eye. There was still a little swelling there."

Parmelee is like most players in this situation. He said he wants to get back on the field and back in the batter's box as soon as possible before any self-doubt creeps in about being hit again. Even if he doesn't play Sunday, he can dig in during teammates' bullpen sessions and track a few pitches.