A baseball game almost took a disastrous turn this weekend when a bat flew into the crowd and nearly hit a small boy right in the face. It was a near miss of epic proportions at the the Pittsburgh Pirates Vs. Atlanta Braves spring training game after a Pittsburgh player lost his grip and the baseball bat span into the stands.

But luckily for the kid, who was distracted by his cellphone, his alert dad was paying attention. He managed to put his arm out and prevented the blow to the face which would surely have caused a lot of pain and facial damage.

Some people have been quick to criticize the child for staring at his phone, but you have to cut the kid some slack. First of all, he’s young. And secondly? The amount of downtime in a ball game… You can’t pay attention for the whole thing. It’s just a good job he dad does…