TEMPE, Ariz. -- Matthew Shoemaker is lucky to be back on the mound again after a horrifying head injury last September. But he's also aware that he is now part of a group of players that can support one another.
Shoemaker was reminded of the day in Seattle when a 105-mph line drive off the bat of Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager struck him in the head after hearing that Blue Jays left-hander TJ House was struck in the back of the head by a liner in a Spring Training game in Lakeland, Fla., on Friday.
Like Shoemaker, House did not lose consciousness at any point. After going to the hospital and undergoing observation, House tweeted that "things are looking good," adding, "Today's moment was the scariest of my career but after much testing and time I'm going to make a full recovery."

Shoemaker suffered a skull fracture and hematoma that required emergency brain surgery on the night of the incident on Sept. 4. So naturally, he had concerns about House.
Shoemaker said that the wives of other Major League pitchers who had experienced similarly terrible injuries, including Brandon McCarthy, Evan Marshall and J.A. Happ, contacted Shoemaker's wife, Danielle, at various points during his hospital stay and recovery last year.
"There was definitely a reach-out," he said.

On Saturday, Shoemaker said he would see how House is doing, and then possibly get in touch with him and offer his encouragement.
"Hopefully everything's OK," Shoemaker said. "In my instance, for the first three hours, everything was looking good, and then all of a sudden I go into surgery. So hopefully everything went well with that."