Braves second baseman Whit Merrifield unloaded on the state of modern big-league pitching after getting hit in the head on Tuesday night.
Merrifield took a 94.5 mph fastball from Rockies right-hander Jeff Criswell to the helmet in the seventh inning and departed, but he was still seething after the game.
“It’s bulls–t. It’s driving me nuts,” Merrifield told reporters. “I hate where the game is at right now with that … It’s just ridiculous … The way pitchers are throwing now, there’s no remorse or regard for throwing up and in. Guys are throwing [as] hard as they can and they don’t care where the ball goes.”
Merrifield is the latest Braves player to be injured by a bean ball, joining Austin Riley, who is expected to miss the rest of the regular season after suffering a broken hand from a 97 mph fastball, and Michael Harris and Travis d’Arnaud, who both missed time with hit-by-pitches of their own.
“I watched Taylor Ward get hit in the face last year and have to get reconstructive surgery,” Merrifield said. “Justin Turner got hit in the face last year. It’s happening at an exponential rate. Guys are getting hit in the hand. Mookie Betts broke a bone in his hand this year … God forbid, something terrible is going to happen.”
Merrifield lamented the death of pitchers hitting – and the implementation of the universal designated hitter – as why the hit-by-pitches continue to increase.
“You can’t hit a guy back anymore,” he said. “There’s no fear that, ‘Oh if I hit this guy, then our guy is going to get hit.’ That’s not the game anymore. Pitchers don’t have to hit anymore, so they don’t have to stand in the box.”
There have been 1,767 hit batters in MLB through Tuesday’s play, which is already more than there were in all of 2017.
There have been more than 2,000 HBP across baseball in each of the last three full seasons, which is more than any previous MLB season since at least 1909.
