It’s an all too familiar baseball story: a player eats a fastball to their body and charges the mound to retaliate. Whether or not It seems deserved, it shouldn’t happen in baseball.
It was the bottom of the third inning when San Diego Padres’ pitcher Luis Perdomo threw at Colorado Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado. Arenado didn’t hesitate in charging Perdomo. After all, it likely wasn’t an accidental hit by pitch.
Earlier in the game, Perdomo had hit Trevor Story as well. The following inning, Padres’ right fielder Hunter Renfroe took a fastball to his body from German Marquez.
The confrontation lead to the ejections of Arenado, Perdomo, Marquez and Padres’ catcher A.J. Ellis. Suspensions and additional punishments are bound to follow. In a similar brawl last year, Giants’ Hunter Strickland threw at Nationals’ Bryce Harper. MLB suspended Strickland for six games and Harper for three.
But why do these confrontations continue to happen in MLB?
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Harsher punishments
It’s hard to say if harsher punishments would actually do much to deter pitchers from throwing at hitters, and even further, if would deter players from charging the mound.
Additionally, pitchers often aren’t the sole bearer of responsibility when a hitter is intentionally hit. Sometimes a catcher or manager will call for it. So while the pitcher is the executioner of the hit by pitch, others can be complicit.
Hitters that charge the mound deserves suspensions as well. Despite often being clearly provoked, MLB shouldn’t allow thrown punches to go unpunished. But that gives MLB a problem; MLB should punish both players involved in an altercation.
However, if they punish one player (the pitcher who threw the intentional HBP) significantly more than the other (the hitter who charges the mound) that will surely spark outrage among fans. Still, these confrontations are always in response to an intentional hit by pitch, so that’s what MLB should focus on getting stricter about.
An extra base with umpire’s discretion?
What if umpire’s had the discretion to decide whether a HBP was intentional? And if they do decide that it was, instead of being awarded just first, the umpire would have the right to award the hitter second base as well. Instead of having a runner on first because the pitcher is angry, all of a sudden that runner is in scoring position.
Baseball could first implement the new rule in MiLB. That would give MLB time to asses its impact and authenticity.
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Baseball has always had intentional HBPs for as long as its existed. But it’s always been an unnecessary and avoidable risk for injury—not just to hitters and pitchers, but to anyone on either bench when one occurs.