NEW YORK (AP) — Baltimore Orioles backup catcher Maverick Handley left Sunday's 4-2 loss to the New York Yankees after being knocked over in a collision at the plate with Jazz Chisholm Jr.
“He got hit pretty hard,” Orioles manager Tony Mansolino was quoted as saying by the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network. “We haven’t seen a collision like that at the plate, probably, since all the new rules came in. So we’re evaluating him right now, full body, every part of it. We’ll have more information tomorrow. ... We’re evaluating everything right now, so nothing official on concussion protocol. There’s obviously a chance that that happens. We’ll have more information tomorrow on him.”
With Baltimore ahead 2-0 in the second, Chisholm hit a two-out double off Dean Kremer and went home on DJ LeMahieu's single to left.
Colton Cowser's throw was up the third-base line. Handley moved to his left for the throw, arriving for the ball at the same time as Chisholm, who tried to veer to the inside to avoid contact.
Chisholm, whose left cleat had come off as he speeded down the line, caught Handley with his right arm, fell past the plate and had to come back to touch it.
Handley, a 27-year-old who debuted in April, got up slowly and was removed after a discussion with Masolino and head athletic trainer Scott Barringer. Baltimore replaced Handley with former Yankees player Gary Sánchez.
Baltimore already is without All-Star catcher Adley Rutschman, who strained his left oblique and is on the injured list for the first time in his major league career.
After San Francisco All-Star catcher Buster Posey sustained a season-ending leg injury in May 2011, Major League Baseball ahead of the 2014 season adopted a rule preventing catchers from blocking a runner's direct path to the plate without the ball.
AP baseball: https://apnews.com/MLB
New York Yankees' Jazz Chisholm Jr. walks off the field after colliding with Baltimore Orioles catcher Maverick Handley while scoring during the second inning of a baseball game Sunday, June 22, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
New York Yankees' Jazz Chisholm Jr. collides with Baltimore Orioles catcher Maverick Handley while running to home plate on a single hit by DJ LeMahieu during the second inning of a baseball game Sunday, June 22, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Baltimore Orioles catcher Maverick Handley reacts after colliding with New York Yankees' Jazz Chisholm Jr. during the second inning of a baseball game Sunday, June 22, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — Harrison Smith's 14th year as a steadying presence and energizing force in the secondary for the Minnesota Vikings has hardly been smooth.
The undisclosed health-related matter that sidelined him during training camp was a major setback to his conditioning, putting him in catch-up mode for most of the first half of the season. The Vikings defense was more vulnerable than usual over those early games, too.
Then with the offense struggling through the developmental process with quarterback J.J. McCarthy, the Vikings stumbled through November to drop to 4-8 and precipitate their elimination from playoff contention.
But lately?
“I’ve been playing football a long time,” Smith said after Minnesota's victory over the Detroit Lions on Christmas Day, “and I have not had fun like that in my whole career.”
Smith received the NFC Defensive Player of the Week award for that performance in his 206th regular-season game, after logging three passes defensed, two tackles for loss, one sack and one interception. He last won that award in 2018.
With career totals of 21½ sacks and 39 interceptions, Smith is just the second player in NFL history to hit those marks, behind Pro Football Hall of Fame member Ronde Barber, who had 28 sacks and 47 interceptions. Smith is also one of four players all time, with Barber, Brian Dawkins and Charles Woodson, to total at least 50 tackles for loss, 100 passes defensed and 200 regular-season games played. Smith (202) also trails only Jim Marshall (270) and Mick Tingelhoff (240) on the team’s all-time list for career starts.
Following the interception against the Lions, Smith was feted on the sideline in a circle of his teammates. He was the recipient of multiple ovations from the U.S. Bank Stadium crowd. Afterward, as Smith tried to sum up what that experience meant to him, his voice cracked several times before he had to pause to compose himself.
“The fans here have never experienced a Super Bowl. They always show up, and for them to keep showing up ... it just shows how much they love the team, how much they love everything that goes into it," Smith said. “We’re out of the playoffs, and everybody shows up in white. They do their part, and one of these days they’ll get it.”
The scene sure felt like a farewell. But so did Smith's emotional postgame remarks after the Vikings were ousted from the playoffs last season.
Could he envision himself returning for a 15th year?
“I can’t speak on that right now. I’m a very much in-the-moment type of guy,” Smith said.
Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell, who has forged a close relationship with the six-time Pro Bowl safety, has made no secret of his desire to keep Smith in place.
Defensive coordinator Brian Flores has turned over some of the play-calling and decision-making to Smith on the field before and after the snap, and an increased emphasis on blitzing in recent weeks has paid plenty of dividends.
"He has an unbelievable feel of the system. He has an unbelievable feel of what ‘Flo’ and the defensive staff really want to do, and he’s out there playing a game within the game,” O’Connell said. “It’s been spectacular to watch. It’s been awesome from my perspective to watch what he’s able to do at this point in his career mentally, and then physically he’s making a lot of plays as well.”
The uncertainty about next season for the defense stretches beyond Smith, with other expensive veterans facing the possibility of being released for cost savings with the Vikings projected to be well over the salary cap approaching the 2026 league year.
Then there's Flores, whose contract will soon expire, making him a free agent. Though his landmark discrimination lawsuit against the NFL that’s still in the court system nearly four years later continues to loom over any interviews he gets for head coach openings, there's also an opening for another club to try to lure him away with a break-the-bank offer for a lateral move.
O'Connell said this week that he doesn't anticipate such a scenario playing out and hopes to have him as long as he can before he's hired again as a head coach.
“I love Minnesota. I love this team. I love working for and with K.O.," said Flores, who was head coach of the Miami Dolphins from 2019-21 and joined the Vikings in 2023. "This place has shown me a lot of love, and I show them right back, and so I don’t know how much more there is to it. From a football standpoint, it fits. There’s always a, let’s call it, business part of this. But the football all lines up. We’ll just see where it all goes.”
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff (16) throws under pressure from Minnesota Vikings safety Harrison Smith (22) during the second half of an NFL football game, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)
Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores stands on the sideline before an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)
