Getting hit by pitches can injure, even if you're Superman Kevin Pillar and miss almost no time after this.
"Get on base by any means necessary", some say.
One painful way to get on base is to let the baseball hit you.
In 2021, the highest-plunked team got nailed 105 times, the median team 65 times and the Tigers came in last at 44 times.
The Mets? Plunked 94 times, not far off the lead.
The prior full season, 2019? Mets were hit 95 times, leading the majors.
Their pitchers hit 70 batters in 2021 and 60 in 2019, so over those 2 seasons, the Mets were hit 59 times more than the opposing teams' hitters were nailed by Mets' hurlers.
Crazy, huh?
The Mets could well get hit by pitches EVEN MORE, and lead in that category again, in 2022. Why?
Well, the Mets already have 3 guys who get hit a lot:
Pete Alonso - 39 times in 1,569 career plate appearances (season high: 21)
Brandon Nimmo - 41 plunks in 1,695 career plate appearances (season high: 23)
Jeff McNeil - 39 HBP in 1,450 career plate appearances (season high: 21)
Add to that two new fellas:
Mark Canha: 80 plunks in 2,492 career plate appearances (season high - in 2021 - 27 HBP)
Starling Marte: 133 HBP in 4,762 career plate appearances (season high: 24, but thankfully lower in recent seasons)
12,068 plate appearances in total for those 5 hitters, which is exactly the equivalent of 2 season's worth of a team's full season plate appearances, with an astonishing 332 HBP.
Divide by two to get a full team season equivalent in team plate appearances, and you get 166 HBP, vs. a 2021 MLB team average of 65.
Ouch!
And it could be even "ouchier".
Khalil Lee in 2021, playing mostly in the minors? Plunked 24 times in 406 at bats. BOINK, BOINK, BOINK.
Keep the Ben Gay handy.
I just wonder how much of it is a deliberate hitter strategy to get on base by any means.
I doubt it is for Pete, who had broken hands twice in the minors. He understands - HBP can equal IL. He's been hit a lot less per PA in 2020 and 2021 than in his target practice 2019 rookie year.
The other 5 guys? Not so sure they do get it.
It would just seem (without searching out relevant corroborating data) that there could be a trip to the IL every 25 times plunked, so the Mets could end up with a lot of IL time in 2022 with these 6 players unless it is politely suggested to them that there is a correlation between injuries and getting hit by hard spherical white stitched objects traveling 98 MPH.
After all, any given pitch can injure. Robinson Cano was only hit by pitches 6 times in 2019 and 2020 with the Mets - but two of those were ball-to-hand impacts that messed up his 2019 season.
J.D. Davis sustained season-impairing hand injuries due to errant pitches in 2021. Pillar's face was rearranged by a pitch, too. He missed incredibly little time after that.
In light of all of the above, I wonder if the Mets should set a simple 2022 team target - be league-average, not league leader, in team HBP. Less IL trips will most likely occur. A good thing, I'd say.
One way to reduce Mets' hitters getting hit by pitches is for Mets' pitchers to retaliate.
When I was around 13, I played a lot of stickball against a handball court wall at Braddock Park in Queens, against my oldest of 6 brothers, John, and against a friend, also named John. The latter John threw hard but was wild. I got hit by him quite a few times as a result.
My control was excellent, and I actually can't recall ever hitting one of them accidentally, but I did deliberately "repay" Wild John quite a few times, very innocently of course, with that little pink Pennsy Pinky - I'm sure it stung a bit when it hit its intended (or unintended) target.
But HBP retaliation does not seem to be part of the Mets' two superstar pitchers' M.O.
Max Scherzer has hit just 96 batters in 10,266 batter appearances, and Jacob deGrom has plunked a scarce 21 of 4,978 batters. That combined HBP rate is lower than Detroit's lowest team HBP rate in 2021.
Anyway, we'll see how 2022 pans out in this regard. The next time a Mets' hitter is nailed and misses time, whether a few games of an extended stay on the IL, though, please remember this article.
Before I go, the man that so many want to leave, let me elaborate a bIt in points I made earlier:
JD Davis, had his season get messed up after a brief, early, torrid season start by getting hit by a pitch on his hand. Would he have had a stellar offensive season if not started to the Land of IL by that HBP?
And let's remember that Robbie Cano was vilified 2019 for his mediocre hitting - but his getting hit on the hand twice early messed up his offense that season, after a torrid spring training and first few regular season games.
I believe the pitchers MUST retaliate more if the Mets' hitters once again are treated like HBP pinatas, with the resulting IL trips and stunted performances. The message will get out to other teams: hit their guys and your own teammates may get it right back, which ought to reduce Mets' HBPs.
There are much healthier ways to get on base.
They're known to us all as HITS AND WALKS.
In the "even weirder" dept., who's the all-time leader in Mets' HBP?
No, not Ron Hunt.
Michael Conforto, with 50!
Pitchers must face the Mets and think, "Target practice!"
P.S.
Some of you have asked for....
A Macks' Mets Top 50 Mets prospect listing.
So, I volunteered and did an abbreviated 2 part article series:
Top 30 (this Tuesday)
Next 20 (on Wednesday).
Stay tuned. Enjoy.
2 comments:
There are a few different ways to get hit by pitches:
1) Just a pitch that got away - batter has few options to get out of harm's way. These are sometimes a bruise in the back and sometimes a devastating helmet hit. All non-intentional.
2) The pitch in on the hands - intentional pitch location to keep the ball away from the barrel. Sometimes a hitter will start to swing on a ball that looks like inside edge, but the ball travels and hits the hands or forearm. These are the ones that can cause the broken hands that Tom describes.
3) "Take one for the team" - these are inside pitches that many batters jump away from, but some fearless individuals like Nimmo or Conforto would just turn towards the catcher to take it on some soft tissue or an elbow guard. This is a painful way to get on base, but usually cause little damage.
I remember the one Conforto took for a game-winning RBI that caused quite a stir.
And how about the famous "shoe polish" ball in game 5 of the 1969 World Series with Cleon Jones at the plate? Gil Hodges showed us the very rare example of a Manager winning an argument with an umpire.
Paul, good insights.
My biggest concern is guys thinking HBP is a good get-on-base strategy who then end up on injured lists and return, after lost time, at less than 100%.
That sort of stuff can end up being a HBP to the Mets' season success or failure.
I also wonder how many broken or badly bruised hands and wrists wouldn't happen if our pitchers would let other teams' pitchers know that there is a cost to open season on hitting Mets' batters.
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