What happened to Jeff Passan? ESPN’s top MLB Insider suffers terrible injury

One of the most well-known and well-respected MLB journalists, Jeff Passan, suffered a broken back following a massive storm in Kansas City. The ESPN Insider, who is incredibly active on Twitter, posted about his extended absence from the social media platform.

"BREAKING: My back." - @JeffPassan

The beloved MLB reporter explained that a large branch from a tree came crashing down on top of him, fracturing a vertebra in his back. While the incident was undoubtedly scary, Passan remains in good spirits, explaining that while his back may be broken, his Twitter fingers are still functioning:

"The vertebra fracture will heal. I will be better. I'm hoping the pain subsides between now and the trade deadline, though painkiller-fueled tweets could be a fun time."

A veteran of the MLB media scene, any extended absence from Passan will leave a glaring void in baseball coverage across the world. Passan is not only a reporter of the game, but a fan as well, passionately defending that keeping Barry Bonds out of the Hall of Fame would be a failure.

"On Barry Bonds' birthday, ESPN's Jeff Passan delivered an impassioned plea for the slugger to be in the Hall of Fame" - @NBCSGiants

A look at Jeff Passan's early life and career in the media

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Passan graduated from Solon High School before attending Syracuse University. Passan began covering sports at Syracuse, writing pieces for The Daily Orange. After initially covering Fresno State basketball, he began covering baseball full-time for the Kansas City Star.

After two years, Passan moved to Yahoo!, spending 13 years with the company. As Passan continued to grow in the sports media world, he signed a four-year, $4 million contract to join ESPN, making appearances on several studio shows such as 'SportsCenter', 'Get Up', and 'The Rich Eisen Show'.

Passan has found himself defending baseball and its stars over the years. One of his shining moments came when he defended Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani from ESPN colleague Stephen A. Smith, who claimed he could not be an MLB star because he was not fluent in English.

"Jeff Passan very politely made Stephen A Smith look like a fool this morning on First Take over his Shohei Ohtani take." - @thesportsontap