Coach Mike Singletary said the initial report from the medical staff was that Baas had a slight concussion, but the offensive lineman was to undergo further examination Monday afternoon. He likely will miss at least several days of two-a-day workouts.
Baas apparently was hurt in one-on-one drills. Last year, he injured a foot on Nate Davis the first day and missed the majority of training camp. A year ago he was hurt in the "nutcracker" hitting drill, which pits two similarly sized players between blocking pads spaced three feet apart.
With Baas out for the time being, first-round draft pick Mike Iupati — selected at No. 17 out of Idaho — will take over with the first-team offence.
While Iupati doesn't know how long he will stay in the spot, he plans to do all he can to keep it. Then, it's up to Singletary whether to keep him as a starter.
"I don't know. I can't control that," Iupati said. "That's the big man's call. I'm just going to work and do my job. I'm going to do my best."
Baas, who became a restricted free agent following the 2009 season, in April signed a one-year contract he had previously been tendered by the 49ers.
Baas started all 16 of San Francisco's games last season for the first time Frank Gore in his five-year NFL career.
The 28-year-old Baas was a second-round pick taken 33rd overall by the 49ers in the 2005 draft out of Michigan. He has appeared in 76 career games with 38 starts, the last 25 of which came at left guard.
Alex Smith raised both arms then clapped his hands after a long completion to Brandon Jones. Sure, it was only the first full day of training camp for the San Francisco 49ers, yet the quarterback had reason to celebrate after several miscues only minutes earlier.
What a change from training camp a year ago, when the 2005 No. 1 overall draft pick began as the backup to Shaun Hill -- only to unseat him as the starter come late October.
Smith hasn't been entrenched as the top guy for the 49ers at the onset of the preseason since the beginning of his tumultuous 2007 season. Without the pressure of fighting for a job, Smith is noticeably more comfortable with his situation now. Leading San Francisco back to the playoffs after a seven-year drought is all he cares about.
"When you're going through a competition like that, you're really ingrained to you and the other guy and what's going on between you two and that's kind of it," Smith said of his 2009 training camp mentality. "You kind of have that singular focus on that. Now it's different. My focus is to do every single thing we can to get ready for opening day. It's easy for teams to just endure this, just to go through this, 'Hey, we're going through this time with the pads, it's not fun, two-a-days.' It's easy just to go through the motions and not get better."
Singletary has been declaring Smith to be the starter all offseason, even after the 49ers signed veteran David Carr to be their No. 2.
Smith is playing for pride, the playoffs and a contract. He's in the final year of the two-year deal he restructured in March 2009 that sharply reduced his base salary. He's never been all about the money, though he knows full well his performance this year will do a lot to dictate his football future.
Singletary expects Smith will only become more comfortable as the Sept. 12 season opener at Seattle nears.
Smith is thrilled with his status -- and he's saying all the right things, too.
"The expectations have definitely risen. We all expect so much more, expect more success," Smith said. "This is an entirely new year. We haven't accomplished anything."
This camp, Smith has one of his top targets in uniform: second-year receiver Michael Crabtree, the 10th overall pick in 2009 who didn't sign until early October last year. He missed all of camp.
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