Intentionally Hitting Batters

What do ya'll think of this practice? Personally, I think it's kind of Busch League. And by that I mean it's probably the most chicken shit, gutless thing a professional athlete can do. The latest example last night was when Marlin's pitcher Jose Urena decided to throw a 97 MPH fastball up and in on the first pitch of the inning to rookie phenom Ronald Acuna Jr. Acuna had hit four home run in three games against The Marlins, so I guess he didn't want to be Acuna's latest victim?




Now some people will say "Well that's baseball." To me, that is stupid. Hurling an object at 97 MPH toward another person's body is not an okay thing to do. I'd invite anyone who thinks otherwise to take a fastball off the elbow lol. The Braves are in the middle of a playoff race and their best player is now day to day because a 12 loss pitcher from a last place team decided he'd enforce some unwritten rule, or whatever other bullshit logic is used to defend this sort of thing. I know some pitchers like to establish control of the zone by brushing batters back a bit. But this seemed blatantly intentional and was so far inside that Acuna had no where to go.

I know "every team does it" and all that. I'm a Braves fan, and trust me, we've been on the wrong side of these scuffles plenty of times. At one point of of the Braves commentators said the Braves should retaliate. That's also ridiculous. The best retaliation was sweeping The Marlins in four games and pushing them deeper into last place.

My opinion is very simple.
The "brush back" is part of baseball. That is an inside pitch designed to cause a batter to adjust his stance and stand a bit farther from the plate.
The "bean ball" is despicable. That is intentionally hitting a batter in the head.

milagros317 said:

My opinion is very simple.
The "brush back" is part of baseball. That is an inside pitch designed to cause a batter to adjust his stance and stand a bit farther from the plate.
The "bean ball" is despicable. That is intentionally hitting a batter in the head.

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Good point. I was actually editing my initial post to address the brush back. That's fine, especially if a player is crowding the plate. But like I said, Acuna had no place to go on that one.

MLB and New York Mets broadcaster Keith Hernandez addressed this issue.

Hernandez said, and I quote.

"You have to "knock Acuna down".

Urena went way too far, and I'm not just saying that because I'm a Braves fan.

I would have said so had it been a Braves pitcher, doing to another team's player, what Urena did to Acuna.

Urena got a six game suspension, which we know will be "appealed".

I think that Urena will serve some penalty. The question is, whether they will shorten the suspension.

I personally think, and hope that he should get anywhere between three and five games, and have to serve it all.

The good news for the Braves is, Acuna is back in the Braves lineup for tonight's game.

Which of course is the most important issue in this situation.

When I was watching something on ESPN, one of the commentators said that it was so horrible to see anything interrupt Acuña, and the hot streak he was on, and that baffled me. Is it not the job of the opposing team to find a way to disrupt an opposing player that’s doing well? Granted, I believe Ureña should have been suspended, and his punishment was valid, but batters get hit. It’s part of the game. And Acuña did not react well by actually putting his elbow in danger, instead of rolling and taking it in the low back/hip area. People made a bigger deal about it than they needed to.

Looks like Acuna got the last laugh. Braves win 5-0 and The Marlins are 22 games behind Atlanta!