The tragic story of 9-year-old bat boy who died Sunday after he was accidentally hit in the head in Kansas caught the baseball community off guard.

“Absolutely brutal,” said Mike Zirelli, a former assistant coach at Santa Clara University who managed the PUF Capitalists, a collegiate summer baseball program which played its home games at Palo Alto High. “I have an 8-year-old son myself and a 5-year-old son, and they were constantly in our dugout bat boying all summer along with their friends. You hope that nothing like this ever happens. And it’s just so unfortunate. I can’t describe how I feel and everyone who I’ve shared this unfortunate story with as well.”

Kaiser Carlile, the son of one of the manager’s cousins, was wearing a helmet when he was struck by a follow-through swing near the on-deck circle on Saturday by a member of the Liberal Bee Jays, part of a summer collegiate league.

The use of bat boys at the National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita was later suspended.

“That story when I heard actually really did hit to home because we have bat boys at every single one of our home games,” said David Klein, the manager for the Menlo Park Legends, a member of the California Collegiate League. “And it’s just sad because I can relate to these kids that are out there every day just running around, being a bat boy and having the time of their lives. … Definitely a very sad and heartbreaking story.”

Zirelli added: “I know it’s definitely made its rounds through the baseball community and it’s on every media outlet, whether it’s CNN or anything non-sports related. Of course, I wasn’t there. You just read the different stories, but just having been inside the dugout for so many years, you could see something like that potentially happening. You witness some close calls, but you never would think it would have the damage that this one incidence had. …

“Again, reading it from the outside looking in, it just seems like an honest mistake and the poor guy who was actually swinging the bat, I haven’t heard much about him. But that’s someone that I’m really feeling for as well.”

The Legends, who employed volunteer bat boys during home games at Canada College in Redwood City, assign one member of the staff to oversee the bat boys.

“We have a person who is a bat boy monitor,” Klein said. “These are usually our camp counselors and they sit there and monitor the bat boys to make sure that they’re being safe, know exactly what they’re doing, when and when not to run on the field.”

A special tribute to Kaiser Carlile took place when the Bee Jays returned to the field after his death. It’s a tragedy the baseball community hopes never repeats itself.

“I don’t think bat boys should go away,” Klein said. “I just think there needs to be processes put in place and methods to keep the kids safe no matter what. And hopefully this never happens again.”

Email Vytas Mazeika at vmazeika@dailynewsgroup.com; follow him at Twitter.com/dailynewsvytas.