Red Sox to implement 'dramatic expansion' of protective netting at Fenway

With a pair of terrifying incidents involving fans and flying projectiles in AL East ballparks still fresh in people's minds, the Boston Red Sox announced "a dramatic expansion" of protective netting in time for the start of next season.

Speaking at the Red Sox Winter Weekend at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut on Friday, team president and CEO Sam Kennedy announced the plan, the Boston Herald's Jordan Graham reported.

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While MLB recommends netting stretch from dugout to dugout around home plate, the new Fenway plan will stretch the nets to Section 79 on the left field side and Section 9 along right field. Both sections are well beyond the edge of the dugouts.

In June 2015, 44-year-old Tonya Carpenter was struck in the head by a broken bat while sitting along the third base side of the stands at Fenway, beyond the protective netting in place at the time. Her injuries were originally called life-threatening and required surgery.

See more from that incident:

In September of last season, a 105-mph foul ball off the bat of the Yankees' Todd Frazier struck a 1-year-old girl in the face at Yankee Stadium. The girl, sitting behind the third base dugout at the time, suffered facial fractures and bleeding on the brain and spent nearly a week in the hospital, with doctors at the time unsure of her exact long-term prognosis.

The Yankees earlier this month revealed a plan to expand netting similar to that of the Red Sox.

--Field Level Media