Recently acquired Pittsburgh Pirate pitcher A.J. Burnett is expected to miss 2-3 months to recover from an orbital fracture of the right eye.

The orbit is the front part of the skull that provides structure and a pocket for the eyeball to sit in. Symptoms can include severe swelling, bleeding, recessed eyeball, limited movement or the eye, double vision, and numbness of the cheek.

As in A.J.’s case, surgery is almost always necessary, but he is lucky because it did not affect his vision, muscles or nerves. And of course, an orbital fracture is painful, and even more so when all your new teammates watch you hit a ball off your face.