Boston Red Sox president Sam Kennedy says the team is planning what he calls a ``dramatic'' expansion of safety netting at Fenway Park.
Kennedy announced Saturday that the netting will be extended past the dugouts on both the left field and right field lines. He says officials are still finalizing the exact dimensions.
The new netting will exceed the recommendations of Major League Baseball for safety netting from behind home plate to each dugout. Red Sox officials say one of their top priorities is fan safety.
Extending netting in ballparks has been the subject of debate after several fan injuries in recent years. In 2015, Tonya Carpenter, of Paxton, Massachusetts, suffered a traumatic brain injury at Fenway when she was struck by a broken bat.
The Toronto Blue Jays announced Monday they will replace and expand the protective netting at Rogers Centre for the 2018 season.
The new netting will be extended to the outfield end of each dugout.
In addition, existing netting behind home plate will be replaced and increased in height by about three metres.
The team said the existing netting meets Major League Baseball's recommended guidelines, but the newly installed netting will exceed those standards.
The changes will be made in time for the Blue Jays' home opener against the New York Yankees on March 29.