The sport has a long history of deaths, and the parents are planning a lawsuit.

From the article:

The league said that since it started keeping records in the 1960s, eight players were killed by batted balls, six of which were hit by wooden bats. The two metal bat fatalities occurred in 1971 and 1973, before the new standards were adopted.

In 2002, the U.S. Consumer Safety Product Commission ruled that there was inconclusive data to support a ban on metal bats in youth and high school baseball games. Its own study found that from 1991 to 2001, there were 17 deaths nationwide because of batted balls — eight from metal, two from wood, and another seven of unknown origin.

That’s right, more than one kid a year dead from youth baseball.

Ironically, this kid was also a martial artist. I bet his parents would never have let him fight MMA. Too dangerous.