John Axford’s Son Bitten By Rattlesnake

Jul 30, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Milwaukee Brewers relief pitcher John Axford (59) pitches against the Chicago Cubs during the fifth inning at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

This broke a few hours ago from The Denver Post and staff writer Nick Groke, but Rockies reliever John Axford has been absent from camp the last several days tending to his 2-year old son who was bitten by a rattlesnake on Wednesday in the Phoenix area.

Axford told the Post:

"“Things got very bad, very quickly,” Axford said. “It looked like a fairly normal snake bite. But things took a turn for the worse. There was a lot of pain. A lot of screaming.”"

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Horrifyingly, for a time, they were worried that Axford’s son, Jameson, would lose his foot – or worse – but it now appears he’s stabilized and doctors believe they won’t have to remove his foot due to the bite.

According to Axford, though, his son may not be out of the woods yet; doctors may need to amputate a toe, which, while better than some of the alternatives, would be a terrible thing to go through as a parent and an inconceivable thing to have to put a two-year old through.

Nevertheless, it appears things could’ve been much, much worse.

From a baseball standpoint, Axford has still been throwing when he’s been able to leave the hospital at points, but he’s certainly not with the team in any significant capacity right now. Axford had thrown five scoreless innings – in fact, he’s only allowed a single hit – this spring, so, he’s conceivably in pretty good baseball shape, anyways now that he has much larger things to worry about.

It remains to be seen when Axford can return to the team. He had earned a spot in the bullpen already, but if he starts the season with his family, the Rockies would certainly slot either Brooks Brown or Rafael Betancourt (or both) into the pen for the time being.

More on Axford when we know it.

He’s active and funny on Twitter, so, if you use that service, you can tweet your good wishes to @JohnAxford. He told the Post his family would appreciate positive thoughts from fans.

And if you’re in rattlesnake country in the American southwest (like I am, and Spring Training sites are), here’s information from UC-Santa Barbara about rattlesnakes, and what to do if you are bitten.