OUCH! THE DREADED HIT-BY-PITCH
The Marte broken-finger-HBP in early September did much to curtail/crush/collapse the Mets’ playoff aspirations - at least that’s how I sees it, Pa.
The Mets got plunked a record 112 times in 2022, and one in particular was very costly….Mr. Marte's digit, to be precise.
All Of The Plunks - viewed here:
It just so happens I wrote this HBP warning article below in early 2022 - why not re-read it, and see if what I was saying made sense. (Hint: this writer thinks the correct answer is yes):
A hit by pitch can injure. Superman Kevin Pillar missed almost no time after this. Marte did, though.
"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.
Pitchers must face the Mets and think, "Yay! Target practice!"
Stay tuned. Avoid heaters. Enjoy.
MEANWHILE, OUT IN PRICKLY ARIZONA...
18 AFL hitters are hitting over .300 - but none are Mets.
In fact, the 4 Mets hitters are all under .200.
In fact, their 4 hitters are a combined .183 in 191 at bats.
Kevin Kendall started hot but slumped, perhaps the level of the competition catching up to him, and is now 14 for 73 - but with 13 BBs.
Luke Ritter? A glacial .133 on 8 for 45, but 9 walks and, somehow, 11 RBIs.
Brandon McIlwain - 2 walks and 7 hits in 42 struggling PAs.
Stanley Consuegra - 2 HRs, but 6 for 33.
Pitchers?
Mike Vasil at 2.93, but 9 walks in 15.1 IP (and 18Ks), 1.24 WHIP.
Josh Walker - 7 relief outings, 1-0, 3,24, 11 Ks in 8.1 IP, 1.56 WHIP.
Christian Scott has not found Cactus Land appealing, allowing 27 hits and 16 runs in 13 innings, 4 HRs, 2.31 WHIP.
Franklin Sanchez, the 6'6" righty? 7.1 IP, 10 runs, 2.32 WHIP.
Grant Hartwig? 9 innings, 12 runs allowed, 2.11 WHIP.
All in all, Vasil and Walker are doing good, everyone else is truly struggling. Tons of runners, tons of runs from the pitcher, holes in bats of hitters.
P.S. Kumar Rocker has allowed 12 hits and 12 walks in 14 innings, and ex-Met JT Ginn has a 2.25 ERA, one of the best in the AFL.
League is averaging 5.75 runs per game, and the Mets hitters are well short, and the pitchers are well over, that average.
9 comments:
The only thing I am not clear on is how inexperienced our guys are vs. the rest of the league. In 2018, Alonso tore up the AFL but it was after half a season in AAA. Walker and Ritter are the only “veterans”, all 7 others were in A ball or in their first year. Kendall had 100 pro plate appearances, then up against much stronger AFL competition than he had faced. I don’t mind young guys getting upwardly challenged, even if they fail, but Ritter’s being there was a waste. He has no future, in my opinion, and he has yet to prove that view wrong. Walker missed most of the season, and it could be a chance to enhance his trade value.
I can't remember one time that I thought a Mets hitter was intentionally hit last season.
I also don't think standing too far into the plate caused the lion share of these.
IMO, they just happened and it became another way they got on base.
Mack, that may be true, but simple fact is the Mets were near the top in 2021 and set a MLB record in 2022, so something is aberrational.
Based on that, I look for reasons. Sheer coincidence? Perhaps, but unlikely.
I think if the opposing pitchers knew there would be swift and like-kind retaliation against their hitters, they would have thrown less inside.
And maybe Marte’s finger doesn’t get broken and the whole season from there on goes differently. If the outcome was inconsequential, I’d skip the topic.
Well, they do know the Mets are woosies and won't retaliate under any condition
Pacifists R Us
Gosh, I watched that Instagram link on all the HBP in 2022 - painful to watch.
2,046 MLB HBP in 2022.
The other teams averaged 67 HBP, 45 fewer than the Mets.
Texas nailed just 47 times, or only 42% as much as our lads.
Or, looked at the other way, our lads were clunked 2.4 times as often as Texas Stranger hitters.
That is an ugly list of "stats" coming out of Arizona!
The HBP's were (hopefully) a statistical anomaly and it will return to a more normal level in '23.......or else, I think some of our pitchers need to retaliate a bit, Bob Gibson style.
Mike, agreed. Don’t want to start a beanball war, but do Ned to retaliate.
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