José Abreu isn’t asking for this

José Abreu (Dale Young-USA TODAY Sports)

To Alex Lange, José Abreu’s anger after an 0-2 fastball on the elbow in the ninth inning of the White Sox’s 8-7 victory over the Tigers this afternoon probably seemed random and misplaced. Lange had faced Abreu all of one time before today. That first matchup took four pitches, none of which came close to hitting Abreu. The final pitch was a 1-2 slider that lingered over the plate, and Lange was fortunate that Abreu only lined out to center.

To Abreu, Lange’s fastball wasn’t a random occurrence. The pitcher might’ve been new, but he’s well acquainted with the result: a hit by pitch, and probably a welt that lasts for days. Lange’s wayward fastball was the 21st time Abreu’s been hit, and this was among the more painful shots.

Abreu made his displeasure known during the next sequence, when he attempted to advance on a pitch in the dirt for the sole purpose of a hard slide into second. Words were exchanged and benches cleared, so Abreu’s message was received.

That said, further messaging is required.

HBPs are not a part of Abreu’s game, yet they’re a big part of his life as a hitter, and the latter often leads people to assume the former. Here’s Lange’s reaction to Abreu’s reaction after the game.

And you might figure that Lange is correct, given the HBP totals on Abreu’s record. But with MLB.com’s pitch-by-pitch video repository, you need not take his word for it, and you shouldn’t.

Let’s go back to the first inning on Monday and see where Abreu stands in the box against Matt Manning when the chalk of the inside corner still exists. He feet are nowhere near the inside line, and so no part of his body is hanging over the plate.

You can also go to Baseball Savant and look at the pitches that have hit Abreu this year. Unlike a typical plate-crowder, none of these involve airspace to which a pitcher has rights. Codify’s Michael Fisher responded to my tweet showing the pitches that plunked Abreu with all of the pitches in the vicinity. If he were hanging over the plate, a lot of more of these pitches resulted in free bases.

You can also compare Abreu’s HBP map to that of another guy who gets hit a ton, Oakland’s Mark Canha. Canha’s been clipped by a lot more pitches barely off the plate, and one of them has the inside corner, albeit high.

Abreu doesn’t invite pitches with where he stands. He ends up wearing pitches because he keeps his front shoulder closed and has a really solid base. When he plants that lead foot, his bottom half isn’t going anywhere, and his upper half is invested on fending off well-located inside fastballs with an inside-out approach.

Here’s a bruisereel covering Abreu’s first 10 HBPs of 2021.

Here are the second 10.

There are a couple of high breaking balls that Abreu doesn’t mind taking off the upper arm, but otherwise, all these pitches are direct hits to Abreu’s person, including a couple off the helmet.

The punishment Abreu has absorbed this season came up as a sidebar when Mike Wright was ejected for hitting Shohei Ohtani with the third of three misfired pitches. However, Ohtani was able to indirectly raise red flags by getting out of the way of the first fastball, which made the second way-inside heater look like it had a purpose.

Abreu’s shape and style don’t lend him the ability to evade such wild pitches. The ones that find him find him, and a lot are finding him. Then the guy who hit him has the nerve to say Abreu was asking for it.

The imbalance of HBP ownership is a byproduct of the game that can’t really be ironed out, especially when most pitchers never come to the plate to bat for themselves. Abreu has been by 20 different pitchers over his 21 HBPs in 2021, with Cleveland’s Cal Quantrill the only repeat offender. Lange has no reason think he should be singled out by Abreu, but Abreu has a reason to be immensely, cumulatively frustrated by the position Lange occupies.

When Lange says that it pitch wasn’t malicious, it’s both correct and unhelpful, especially when he tries to get Abreu to share responsibility for it. It might not help matters if he said “I was just really bad at my job,” but at least it’d be more sporting.

By sliding hard into Niko Goodrum, Abreu forced everybody to directly engage the punishment he has absorbed. Umpires had to consider it when weighing ejections, opponents had to answer for it, and his clubhouse had to vocalize the idea of defending him.

Perhaps more importantly, Tony La Russa was seen talking to crew chief Tim Timmons after Liam Hendriks recorded the game’s final out. There’s nothing talking could accomplish with regards to Monday’s game, but with another series against Detroit coming up, it doesn’t hurt to make umpires aware of the likelihood of such future accidents. No pitcher intends to hit Abreu, but they all seem to be comfortable with the consequences, mostly because there weren’t any until this afternoon. Abreu’s vengeance might have come a little late, but with the postseason around the corner and the Astros responsible for two of Abreu’s HBPs over seven games this year, it’s superior to never.

(Photo by Dale Young/USA TODAY Sports)

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soxexile

So my big question is who will get the presumption of innocence the next time Abreu gets hit, Jose or the pitcher? It isn’t enough to say that the pitcher didn’t intend to hit him. Guys who can’t control their offerings have no business pitching that far inside.

LuBob DuRob

Appreciate how Abreu takes a HBP like a boss, but very happy to see him react – long overdue, been ridiculous this year.

GrinnellSteve

Time will tell, but I immediately put forth that this could be a watershed moment in this team’s season. Jason apparently heard me and parroted the same sentiment. I hope they close out the season on an 18-game winning streak.

Jason

It’s time.

vince

Our report says we finish him up and in. That’s where I was going. Obviously it wasn’t intentional.

I think too much gets put on “intentional.” I think the better word is “reckless.”

These pitchers don’t have the control to go up and in, particularly when they are trying to avoid missing over the plate. So they miss by hitting Abreu, and they think because it wasn’t “intentional” that absolves them of any responsibility.

LamarHoyt_oncrack

Abreu isn’t even leading the league in getting hit. The number of times he has been hit is not exceptionally high historically relative to other players (Rizzo got hit 30 times a few years back), but according to baseball reference, the league wide number of HBP’s per game the last 4 years are at 100 year highs, more than twice what those averages were in the 80’s.

It’s been a slow and steady upward trend since the 70’s and 80’s. Interesting, I guess guys are pitching inside a lot more.

Last edited 2 years ago by LamarHoyt_oncrack
Joliet Orange Sox

I wonder if the body armor some players wear makes them more willing to stand close to the plate and hold their ground contributing to some of the HBP increase.

burning-phoneix

Abreu’s is #5 in MLB atm for HBP but all the guys above him are plate-crowders. It’s impressive he can keep up with them.

As Cirensica

Couldn’t say it better.

knoxfire30

If you pound a guy in off the plate consistently you are going to consistently hit him even if the intent is just to pound him inside. This is why intent is a dumb standard when umps are determining warnings. Abreu is not intentionally getting hit but who cares, because he is getting hit a lot and its because of the way teams pitch him. In the good old days the sox would be able to police it themselves and retaliate. Which would make teams think twice about consistently pounding Abreu inside because they know their own star players wont want the same treatment. But happy pussification of everything so now the tigers can claim they didnt mean to hit Abreu and recklessly pitch him inside all they want.

Assuming Abreu is totally fine health wise, I actually love something like this happening just days away from the post season, gets everyone a little more fired up, a little more edge to their game.

HallofFrank

I’m a bit torn about this. I lean towards Abreu and I was happy to see him react. Even without “intent,” it has to be frustrating to get hit so much, especially when you’re not crowding the plate. Like others have suggested, this has the making of something that the team can rally around (especially ending the season with Detroit) before the playoffs.

On the other hand, I can’t blame pitchers for following a scouting report even if they’re not executing well. Saying to a pitcher “get better at your job” can’t be the solution because, surely, they wish they were better—and responding by only throwing pitches out over the plate to Abreu likely won’t help their job prospects, either.

So, this had me wondering: what if MLB changed the consequences of a HBP? Suppose, for example, a batter got two bases for a HBP instead of one? I know this won’t happen and I’m not even sure I’d want it to, but if pitchers are indeed recklessly jamming some hitters inside, and thereby putting their health at risk, then one response is to change the incentives for throwing inside. Of course, that’d also create more incentive for the batter to try and get hit, so that would require some policing.

LamarHoyt_oncrack

An out of the box idea like giving two bases for HBP is outstanding. You may be right that it won’t happen, at least not soon, but that would surely make a difference and get the numbers down. A seriously great idea though, my opinion. Why not?

At least sounds like a good idea before I am awake enough to think critically!

Last edited 2 years ago by LamarHoyt_oncrack
HallofFrank

I agree that policing the hitters would be a challenge. I do think, however, that umpires would be less loath to do it if the reward was two bases. Two bases for a second HBP is a good compromise.

Buehrlesque

I like this thinking. Why is it OK for a pitcher to hit a batter with a pitch, intentional or not? Two bases for a HBP is one idea. Automatic warnings with a HBP, intentional or not, is another, leading to a no-judgment ejection if it happens again. Basically, if a guy comes in a starts beaning batters, he shouldn’t stay in the game.

vince

I wonder if you could take location into account. One base for below the knees, or on the hands/forearm. Two bases everywhere else.

Two bases seems a little harsh for a back foot slider that someone just didn’t move their foot.

mikeyb

Could be even simpler, just fine a pitcher $10,000 or something every time they hit a batter. Make it $20,000 if it’s a pitch over 90 mph.

joewho112

Here is the comment that Codify included in their tweet to Jim. I found it informative

About 1 of every 30 pitches he’s seen this year…only 2 RHBs have seen a greater volume of pitches in that area. Probably gets old.

lifelongjd

I think what really set Jose off was Goodrum’s reaction. Even Hinch said the slide was “old school” and wasn’t in retaliation. Who knows what he said to Jose, but I’m sure he wasn’t in the mood to be questioned for his intent after taking a fastball off the arm.
Also, I noticed Lange run over to defend Goodrum when the argument started. If I was Jose, this would have incensed me to no end. You just beaned a guy with a 95 mph fastball, maybe sit this one out.