TORONTO – This “thing” between the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays? It will have to go some to match the nastiness and sharpness of what Russ Martin experienced while catching with the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NL Central Division.
We’re all about the AL East in these parts, it’s the NL Central that has produced seven major league hit-by-pitch leaders since 2000 and the NL’s hits-by-pitch leader 10 times since 2000 — including the last two seasons. So it made sense to talk to Martin just a few hours before the Blue Jays and Orioles renewed hostilities at the Rogers Centre, at a time when more hitters are getting plunked at a faster pace than they have in the last nine seasons.
"Small sample size, probably," Martin said with a shrug. "I mean, I’m not noticing anything that I can point to. Really, I just think it’s the same thing we’ve seen for a long time: how do you pitch to the best hitters in the game? Where do most of them have a hole? High and in. That’s still the one area where it’s tough for anybody to get their bat."
According to research by the Sportsnet Stats and Information Department, MLB is currently experiencing its highest rate of hit batsmen since 2007. Through Tuesday, there had been an average of 0.75 hit batters per game, ahead of the 0.64 pace of the previous three seasons. That’s second only to 2007’s 0.76 figure through the date, which falls between the first 205-210 games of the season. This was, of course, a topic of conversation before Wednesday’s game after the war of words that erupted between the teams when Jose Bautista “pimped” his home-run trot after the Orioles’ Jason Garcia threw behind him. It was the second time this season in which an Orioles pitcher threw behind Bautista, the other being Darren O’Day. In both instances, Bautista homered in response.
HIT BY PITCH RATE THROUGH APRIL 21
Source: Sportsnet Stats & Information Department
The Orioles’ Adam Jones scorched the verbal earth after the game, calling out Bautista, Aaron Sanchez — who hit all of one batter last season but who in Jones’ mind seemed to have been something of a head-hunter last season — and even Sportsnet analyst Gregg Zaun, who suggested that Jones was owed a fastball in the ribs for what had transpired with Bautista. (Jones, of course, was removed from Tuesday’s game by manager Buck Showalter. Feel free to add your own interpretation.)
Several uniformed Blue Jays personnel were miffed going into the series that the Orioles received no official reprimand, fine or suspension for the O’Day incident, especially in light of Marcus Stroman’s six-game suspension last season for throwing behind Caleb Joseph. Baseball has seen several high-profile incidents already this season — the Kansas City Royals, who have already had 14 hit batters this season, turned their weekend series against the Oakland Athletics into target practice with Brett Lawrie and had reliever Kelvin Herrera suspended for five games — and for that reason the commissioner’s office spoke to both teams before last night’s game and had a separate conversation with crew chief Brian Gorman and his crew.
Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports has suggested there’s a method to the system being enforced by Joe Torre and Joe Garagiola, Jr., who are commissioner Rob Mandfred’s disciplinarians. Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura was fined for hitting Lawrie in retaliation for a slide on Alcides Escobar but was not suspended, Morosi said, because Torre and Garagiola viewed it as part of the "code" that allows players to even up grievances. Using that logic, Ventura was in his rights to dust Lawrie … but Herrera’s action was viewed as an additional salvo in a battle that had been settled.
If that’s true, it’s a theory that seems destined to be tested in the 2015 season.
Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said he thinks there have been more of what he referred to as "cheap shots" early in the season. Or maybe it’s that, in his words, "everything’s televised" which has led to a greater awareness. Beyond that, he agreed with one of the growing sentiments in the game: that in addition to pitchers throwing high and in, hitters are generally more comfortable in the box than they’ve been in the past. There is less of a fear factor, which leads to a dropped guard.
"That might be it," Gibbons said. "They’ve got arm-guards now … everything."
In a post-game interview earlier this season, Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas talked about the number of times his teammates had been hit by pitches, suggesting players know the difference between an "accident" and an "intention" just by how it looks … how sometimes it just "doesn’t look right."
Martin said the pitcher’s reaction has a great deal to do with the message received, that generally a pitch that slips out of the pitcher’s hand is signaled by a surprised reaction from the pitcher, whether to look at his fingers or slap his side in frustration.
"What you look for is whether the guy just walks in and holds his glove up for another ball," Martin said.
Context can, of course, be provided by the opponent, part of the game, score and perhaps a personal animus, which can make coming to a definitive judgement difficult. Martin seemed to suggest that Wednesday night’s start by Sanchez was not one in which retribution for Garcia’s pitch and Jones words was on the table. Martin said that even if a warning were given to the teams before the game, he wouldn’t deviate from the gameplan. It was a wise tack, since Sanchez walked five batters through three innings to continue his unsteady transition back to starter from closer, a head-high fastball to Joseph the only thing to raise an eyebrow — were it on a night when he had his pin-point control.
Whether it was having a hand in the calling of Tuesday’s closed-door, players-only meeting or being the instigator behind the dug-out-clearing celebration of Bautista’s home run on Tuesday — as was revealed by Kevin Pillar — it is clear that Martin is writing himself large all over the 2015 season.
Given the way batters are being plunked these days, the experience and bruises collected in his tenure with the Pirates might be just another arrow in the quiver.