The news is exactly as we feared it would be about 6 hours ago as Mark Kaboly has the official word that rookie 7th round draft pick running back Baron Batch has suffered a torn ACL of his left knee. Batch injured the knee in the 11 on 11 portion of practice as the Steelers were practicing on the field turf today. Latrobe has had a large amount of rainfall over the last few days and it prevented the Steelers from practicing on the grass. Batch was finishing a run when his foot caught a seam in the turf and he immediately pulled up according to reports. He motioned for the trainers right away. Batch was loaded up on a cart and several teammates came by to offer him encouragement.
Batch was the 232nd overall pick back in April after playing his college ball at Texas Tech. He played in a wide open offense where he excelled at blitz pick-up and catching the ball out of the backfield. His tremendous back story of overcoming many obstacles put in front of him, hit home with all of Steeler Nation. The obstacles included the loss of his mother. Batch is a very faith driven young man that didn\’t deserve this. All of Steeler Nation wishes him a speedy recovery and we know we will see him next year as healthy as ever.
Here is the interview I did with Baron right after he was drafted in April.
Batch has posted to his blog just a short time ago and you can read that entry here.
