Beanballs and Baseball’s Sense of Justice
A lot has been been said about what will happen when the Astros step into the batter’s box in 2020. Furious with the non-apologies from the organization’s players and ownership as well as Rob Manfred’s constant bungling of words and seeming lack of spine, fans are adamantly calling for blood.
For half a moment, it felt like baseball justice might be swift. At his third at-bat in spring training, Jose Altuve got hit by a pitch…in the foot on a breaking ball that broke a little too much. Then Bregman was hit in the back two days later, the seventh such Astros player to be plunked. He was hit by Ramon Santos, a non-rostered minor leaguer looking for a spot in the bigs. The pitch was a splitter that got away from him, or so said Bregman. And looking at Santos’s record, it’s not a stretch to believe it’s true.
Whatever the sentiment that might be applied to them, it’s highly likely these were just accidents and not the baseball providence we might wish them to be.
Of the seven Astros batters hit by pitches so far, Altuve and Bregman are the only ones from that 2017 team. The others were either in the minors, collegiate, or independent leagues at the time – and most of those players will likely return there after breaking camp.
Seven hit batters isn’t even all that high. The league average is 4.83. Seven other teams have had at least that many hit-by-pitches, with the Dodgers and Reds topping the list at 10. If beanballs are supposed to equal justice, then baseball court is not in session right now.
It’s likely because of the memo issued by the Commissioner’s Office and championed by former pitcher Chris Young, who is now the Senior VP of On-Field Operations and Umpire Departments. The memo is ostensibly in response to the infamous Reds/Pirates brawl on July 30th 2019, but its mid-February release date seems a bit reactive to the Astros revelations. It likely also has something to do with new Astros manager Dusty Baker asking for protections against retaliation in the batter’s box. Regardless of its origins, the memo seems to be enough to keep pitchers in check for now.
Where the commissioner’s reach can’t extend is into the bleachers. Aside from some poster confiscation, the league seems to be letting fans say pretty much whatever they want. Manfred’s weak punishments has effectively called for open season on booing and heckling the remnants of the 2017 Astros team.
And while opposing teams have seemed reluctant to definitively throw at Astros players, one pitcher might have let his feelings be know in a more subtle way. Tucked away at the bottom of a New York Post article is a little anecdote about Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard.
It seems that Syndergaard took the field a little bit early for his February 26th spring training debut – one minute early to be precise – and stood on the mound. He watched the scoreboard clock with his back to home plate, waiting for it to turn to 1:10 pm, the official start time of the game. Already on the field as well, Astros leadoff man George Springer, who was on that 2017 team and definitely benefitted from a bang or two, was left to the mercy of the crowd. Luckily, the crowd knew what to do and used the full minute to heckle Springer, who ended the at bat with a fly out. But it was Springer’s second at-bat that really delighted the crowd when he swung almost out of his shoes trying to shut them up.
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