Bad baseballs? New York Mets angry after rash of HBPs
Share this post:
PHOENIX — New York Mets pitcher Chris Bassitt has a theory about why his bat-swinging teammates have turned into targets at the plate during the season’s first month.
Bad baseballs.
“The MLB has a very big problem with the baseballs. They’re bad,” he said Tuesday. “Everyone knows it. Every pitcher in the league knows it. They’re bad. They don’t care. MLB doesn’t give a damn about it. We’ve told them our problems with them and they don’t care.”
"I had some close calls tonight. I've been hit in the face, I don't ever want to do that to anybody ever. MLB has a very big problem with the baseballs. They're bad. Everyone knows it. They don't care. MLB doesn't give a damn about it."
– Chris Bassitt pic.twitter.com/KMc0bAhYPx
— SNY (@SNYtv) April 27, 2022
It’s understandable Bassitt wants to protect his teammates. The Mets have been hit by pitches 18 times through their first 19 games this season — including three times against the Cardinals on Tuesday night — which is by far the most in the league.
They’ve also been hit by a lot of balls in the head and neck area, which can be particularly dangerous.
But a look at MLB-wide statistics shows a complicated picture that’s likely affected by April’s usual cold weather and random chance. The league’s HBP rate is actually down slightly from last season. The Pittsburgh Pirates played their first 17 games without anyone getting hit by a pitch.
Still, that doesn’t change Bassitt’s main thesis.
Are the baseballs really “bad”? Maybe “inconsistent” is the better word.
“They’re rubbed up differently by different people in different climates in different places,” Braves pitcher Collin McHugh said. “I understand the challenge of trying to get a consistent product under all those different variables. There’s no doubt that the ball you get in the first is going to be different than the ball you get in the eighth and from batch to batch.
“Sometimes the ball feels small in your hand. Sometimes they feel big. Very often they’re real slick, dusty slick. So you see guys out there rubbing it. They’re really not trying to rub anything onto the ball, they’re trying to rub that layer of dust off the ball because it just feels a little slick.”
Last year, MLB cracked down on pitchers who used sticky substances — remember Spider Tack? — to try to get a better grip on baseballs. These days, umpires routinely check pitchers’ gloves and hands as they’re coming off the field.
The crackdown was met with tepid response. It’s true pitchers can use sticky substances to make the ball spin faster to get a harder break on off-speed pitches. But it also helped pitchers know where the ball was going, particularly in cold weather.
MLB has tried to standardize its baseballs and made humidor usage mandatory this season. The humidor is used to try to get baseballs to behave in a similar fashion, whether the game’s being played in Colorado’s thin air or New York or Atlanta.
Let’s just say it’s a work in progress.
“Sometimes, pitchers just, the ball feels like a little bit of like a cue ball,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said. “And there’s not always like a lot of rhyme or reason for it. Sometimes, it has to do with the cold, and sometimes it’s just, you pick the ball up and it feels a little foreign.”
Clearly, it’s a difficult problem to address. MLB said it continues to look for answers.
“MLB is always concerned about keeping hitters safe from dangerous pitches,” MLB spokesman Michael Teevan said. “We closely analyze trends in the game and have active conversations with our players and coaches to address concerns. Through April 26, leaguewide statistics show hit-by-pitch rates and wild pitch rates are down relative to previous seasons. However, one Club has been hit more than twice as often as the league average so far in 2022, which is something we will continue to monitor.”
That team is the Mets.
The drama continued on Wednesday afternoon after Mets third baseman J.D. Davis was hit by a pitch on the ankle and had to leave the game. An inning later, Mets pitcher Yoan López threw high and tight to Cardinals star Nolan Arenado, who reacted angrily.
The benches cleared. Arenado and Cardinals first base coach Stubby Clapp were ejected. Pete Alonso was tackled during the scrum.
And so it goes.
The Mets throw high and inside with Arenado at the plate and the benches and bullpens clear.
TV: Bally Sports Midwest
Stream: https://t.co/bpy5V8b7QS#STLCards pic.twitter.com/jp8enNbepR— Bally Sports Midwest (@BallySportsMW) April 27, 2022
Mets pitcher Max Scherzer — one of the game’s best — gave up just one hit over seven innings in 48-degree weather last week against San Francisco. Even in victory, the baseballs were a problem.
“I think everybody was coming back talking about how difficult it was to grip the ball today,” Scherzer said. “When you don’t have sweat, it just felt like you were throwing a cue ball tonight. Everybody was over-gripping everything. Just part of the game right now. So just frustrating.”
“You know, everybody has to deal with it, so it’s not like I can complain about it. It’s just, you have to deal with it.”