A St. Louis Cardinals prospect is fortunate to be alive today ... 'cause he was involved in a horrifying bear attack earlier this month, but thankfully, he escaped with only minor injuries.
The terrifying incident went down in Wisconsin ... when Dalton Roach -- a pitcher for the Cards' Double-A affiliate, the Springfield Cardinals -- was trying to hunt some deer.
Roach told the Leader-Telegram at one point during his outing while he was in a hunting perch, a bear got close to his tree -- and then shockingly began to climb up it.
“By the time he was under my tree and then up behind me was 15 seconds.” 😱
— Jennifer Hoff (@JennHoffReports) October 27, 2021
A Wisconsin man hunting deer sees a bear instead.
That then climbs up to his stand and bites him in the back.
Dalton Roach recalls more of the encounter on @kare11 at 10p. pic.twitter.com/KVjiMea1PX
"The next thing I know I can hear him right behind me and feel him breathing on my back," said Roach, who shot video of the bear while it was on the ground.
"Then I feel a paw on my lap. He just kind of left the paw sitting there."
A few seconds later, Roach said he felt the bear biting him -- so he made an attempt to get big and scare off the beast, and fortunately, it worked.
"Luckily, he kind of leaned back, seemed to say, 'What the heck?'" the 25-year-old pitcher said, "and eventually got out of the tree."
Roach said he went to the hospital to have the wound cleaned out and to get some precautionary shots -- but he added the injury shouldn't affect his baseball career going forward.
"I'm very fortunate that this whole scenario went the way it did," Roach said, "and now I have a heck of a story to tell."
Roach was picked by the Houston Astros in the 21st round of the 2018 MLB draft. He recorded a 7-10 record with a 5.65 ERA last season in the minor leagues.