Nearly two weeks after the beaning, Ryan Baty still lapses into fogginess.

“At times I’ll get light-headed,” Baty said. “I’ve had some trouble remembering phone numbers and where I left things in my room.”

A day after concluding his Kansas University baseball career in late May, Baty signed a free-agent contract with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who assigned him to extended spring training in St. Petersburg, Fla.

After a week or so of working out, Baty and his new teammates were scheduled to play their first practice game against a group of Toronto Blue Jays rookies.

Baty, who had ended his KU career with a school-record 21-game hitting streak, opened at first base and, in his first professional at-bat, doubled off the left-field fence.

His second trip to the plate, however, brought a hush over the field.

With the count 0-2, Baty was unable to get out of the way of a pitch and went down in a heap. A 94 mph fastball had clipped Baty’s batting helmet above and a little behind the left ear flap.

“I remember the ball coming at me, and I remember waking up,” Baty said, “but I don’t remember the pitcher.”

Baty was unconscious for about 30 seconds, but he was hurting. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was diagnosed with a third-degree concussion and stayed overnight for observation.

“My left ear was ringing for about two hours, and I was vomiting,” he said. “It was scary that I couldn’t hear out of my left ear. I tell you, it wasn’t fun. It shook me up pretty good.”

During his four seasons at KU, Baty played in an even 200 games and was hit by a pitch 10 times, yet never suffered a serious beaning.

“You ask anybody I played with, they’ll tell you when the ball was coming, I’d get out of the way,” Baty said, “but when someone was throwing in the mid-90s, I couldn’t get out of the way.”

The 6-foot-4, 215-pound Baty was taking ground balls in infield practice last week, but he still hasn’t been given the OK to face live pitching. Sunday, he flew to Newburgh, N.Y., where he will join the Hudson Valley Renegades, Tampa Bay’s short-season Class A affiliate.

“We open Thursday,” Baty said, “and I’m hoping to be cleared to play by then.”

Baty isn’t the only member of this year’s KU team soon to embark on a professional career.

Third baseman Travis Metcalf signed with the Texas Rangers after the American League club made him its 11th-round draft choice last week. Metcalf, who set a school single-season home-run record this spring with 18, will debut with the Rangers’ short-season Class A farm in Spokane, Wash.

Also, Ryan Knippschild has signed with the Cleveland Indians, who are expected to assign the left-handed pitcher to their short-season Class A farm at Mahoning Valley near Youngstown, Ohio. Knippschild was drafted in the 35th round.

Meanwhile, several current KU baseball players are playing summer ball in collegiate and semipro leagues.

Eight Jayhawks are on rosters in the Northwoods League, all for Minnesota clubs. Travis Dunlap and Andy Scholl are in Duluth; Sean Land, Don Czyz and Mike Saddler in Rochester; Andy Rebar and Ryotaro Hayakawa in St. Cloud; and Scott Sharpe in Mankato.

Four Jayhawks — Matt Baty, Ritchie Price, Jacob Jean and Mike Zagurski — have gone to Alaska to play for the Anchorage Glacier Pilots. Matt Baty is Ryan Baty’s younger brother. Price is the oldest son of KU head coach Ritch Price.

The KU coach’s two youngest sons, Ryne and Robbie, are playing again this summer for the San Luis Obispo, Calif., Firestone Rangers, an 18-and-under touring team that won the U.S. Amateur Baseball Federation championship last year.

Ryne was the starting catcher and Robbie the shortstop on Free State High’s Class 6A state runner-up team last month. Ryne has signed a KU baseball letter of intent. Robbie will be a junior at Free State in the fall.