Pittsburgh Pirates’ Josh Harrison: 2017 Hit By Pitch King

Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Josh Harrison has been getting hit by pitches at a scorching pace this season.

There’s a new king of the hit by pitch this year and his name is Josh Harrison. The previous title holder was Brandon Guyer, who was beaned 24 times in 2015 and 31 times last year. Guyer relinquished his crown by getting hit by a pitch just four times in the first half this year, mainly because he hasn’t had the playing time to rack up the bruises.

This business of getting hit by pitches is a new thing for Harrison. He’s been hit 20 times so far this year, which is more than he was hit in the last four seasons combined. He came into this year with a career rate of one HBP every 75 plate appearances. This year, he’s been pegged once every 18 plate appearances.

Only one pitcher, Lance Lynn, has beaned Harrison more than once. Lynn has hit him twice in six plate appearances. He’s also allowed two hits, including a homer, which gives Josh Harrison a .667 OBP and 1.500 SLG against Lance Lynn in a very small sample size. You hit Josh Harrison, you better expect to get hit right back.

Harrison has faced 153 different pitchers this year and 19 of them have hit him with a pitch. That’s 12 percent of the pitchers he’s faced who have beaned him with the baseball. Against these 19 pitchers, Harrison has paid them back to the tune of a .370/.586/.717 batting line. Subtract out the 20 HBP and he still has a .420 OBP against them. Five of these 19 pitchers have faced Harrison only once this season and hit him with a pitch in that one shot they had at him. That’s not exactly making a good first impression.

Harrison was assaulted by the baseball in four consecutive plate appearances spanning two games in April. Jon Lester got him in the seventh inning on April 16 and Justin Grimm nailed him in the ninth. The next day, Lance Lynn decked him in his first two times at the dish.

Against pitchers who haven’t hit him with a pitch, Harrison is only hitting .265/.308/.389. This group of pitchers has struck out Harrison 19 percent of the time. The pitchers who have beaned him have only struck him out three percent of the time. Word to pitchers: Treat Josh Harrison with kindness and he’ll return the favor, but hit him with a pitch and you’ll feel his wrath.

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The single-season record for getting hit by a pitch is likely out of reach for Harrison, unless he ramps up his rate of beanings. If you go back to the 1800s, Hughie Jennings is the single-season record holder, with 51 balls to the body in 1896. He was hit 46 times in both 1897 and 1898. Either he was a very unlikable person, or he just had a knack for getting doinked by pitched balls.

The record holder in single-season HBP since 1901 is Ron Hunt, who was pegged 50 times in 1971. Hunt made a career out of getting hit, with 243 in his career. In the modern era, Craig Biggio, Don Baylor, and Jason Kendall were all hit more times than Hunt, but they all had at least 2,000 more plate appearances also.

With 20 HBP at the All-Star break, Josh Harrison has a chance to take over second place on the post-1901 single-season HBP list. At his current pace, he would finish with 36 HBP, which would be one more than Don Baylor had in 1986. Baylor was a very large man who stood close and leaned out over the plate. Baseballs to Baylor were like mosquitoes to semi trucks. Oftentimes, he barely flinched and he never ever rubbed it.

Considering that Harrison doesn’t have a history of getting hit by pitches at this rate, he’s unlikely to actually move pass Baylor this year. Unlikely doesn’t mean impossible, though. It could happen. He may have changed something at the plate that has resulted in him getting hit more often.

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Or it could be mostly fluky. He’s projected to get hit six more times by the FanGraphs Depth Charts, which would leave him with 26 HBP this year. That wouldn’t be a record, but it would still be impressive. Since 1901, there have only been 19 times a player was hit 26 or more times with a pitch. Harrison could be number 20, especially if he faces Lance Lynn a few more times.