Major League Baseball

Yankees' top pick in 2012 recovering from brutal beating

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 5:12 p.m. ET

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Former Weber State linebacker Anthony Morales was charged Thursday with aggravated assault and battery for allegedly breaking the jaw of New York Yankees pitching prospect Ty Hensley last month in what was described by Oklahoma authorities as an argument about signing bonuses.

A charging document filed by the Oklahoma County District Attorney's Office says Morales repeatedly kicked Hensley in the face "resulting in a fractured jaw and broken teeth" early on Dec. 28 at a home near Oklahoma City.

Morales signed with the NFL's Carolina Panthers in July and was released in August. Like Hensley, he is from Edmond, Okla., though they attended different high schools.

Hensley was taken by the Yankees in the first round of the 2012 amateur draft with the 30th overall pick and signed for a bonus of $1.2 million.

An affidavit signed Wednesday by Lt. Danny Ousley says Hensley was at a bar with friends and that one of his friends, Dalton Van Schamann, asked Morales whether he wanted to join the group at the home. Logan McCray, who appears to match the description of a woman called Hensley's girlfriend in a redacted police report, "heard Hensley and the defendant having an argument about the amount of money professional athletes are paid for signing with a professional team," according to the affidavit.

McCray and another witness, Meghan Van Stavern, told police Hensley was knocked unconscious and both saw Morales run from the house.

Ousley said when he visited Hensley at Southwest Medical Center to take pictures, the pitcher's jaw was broken in two places, Hensley sustained a 2-inch cut on his chin, a tooth was missing, his right eye was black and his mouth was wired shut.

It was not immediately clear whether Morales had an attorney.

Jake Diesselhorst, Hensley's lawyer, said the pitcher spent the night at a hospital but did not sustain any neurological damage.

A 21-year-old right-hander who is listed by the Yankees as 6 foot 4 and 220 pounds, Hensley was 1-2 in five appearances for the rookie level Gulf Coast Yankees in 2012, didn't pitch in 2013 following hip surgery and had a 2.93 ERA and no record in 11 games last year for the Gulf Coast Yankees and Class-A Staten Island.

"This attack was shocking and disturbing both in its severity," Hensley's agent, Rob Martin, said in a statement. "His pain tolerance, attitude and determination to get back on the mound as soon as possible are literally off the charts."

Yankees spokesman Jason Zillo said "we are aware of the incident but beyond that we do not have a comment."

Morales, listed by the Panthers as 5-10 and 230 pounds, was Oklahoma's 2008-09 state 165-pound wrestling champion at Edmond Memorial High School, according to Weber State. 

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