Mac Williamson Suing Giants, Alleges Oracle Park Bullpen Mound Caused Concussion

Former San Francisco Giants outfielder Mac Williamson has filed suit against the team stemming from a concussion he suffered when tripping over the Oracle Park bullpen mound in 2018.

Williamson was chasing down a foul ball when he fell and hit his head against the wall along the third-base line.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle's Henry Schulman, the 30-year-old is arguing the franchise "maintained a dangerous risk for players by having the mounds on the field and did not move them to a safer spot even after players got hurt."

Schulman shared a statement from the Giants:

"MLB and its clubs have a longstanding practice of addressing claims arising from player injuries through the collectively-bargained grievance procedure and the worker’s compensation system.

"Williamson’s claims are properly resolved through these processes, not through the courts."

The concussion came in San Francisco's 4-3 win over the Washington Nationals on April 24, 2018. He missed a little over a month before returning to the field.

Still, he contends in the suit he "hasn't been the same since suffering the injury."

"The concussion ended my career and left me with lifelong injuries that have also taken a significant toll on my personal life," he said. "I suffer nausea, trouble sleeping, mood swings, and other issues.

“I wake up every day hoping that today is a better day and that I will get closer to how I felt before the injury."

Per Schulman, Williamson claimed he had a conversation with former Giants owner Peter Magowan about the bullpen. Magowan, who died in 2019, said then-commissioner Bud Selig thought the mounds were unsafe when the Giants first opened Oracle Park in 2000, but the team kept them in anyway.

Last December, the Giants announced they were moving their bullpens and placing them behind the wall in center field:

Following his concussion, Williamson made 38 more appearances for the Giants before he opted to leave in June 2019 after the team had placed him on waivers for a second time. He promptly signed with the Seattle Mariners but played in just 25 games over the remainder of the 2019 season before joining the Samsung Lions in South Korea's KBO League.

Williamson's last MLB game was Seattle's 6-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on July 14, 2019. He signed a minor league deal with the Washington Nationals this past January but couldn't make the Opening Day roster.