Let’s stop headhunting in baseball

We have, both thankfully and unfortunately, become much more aware of the violence that surrounds our favorite sports in recent years. In-game collisions, brawls, head trauma, domestic abuse, and child abuse have become regular parts of our daily consumption of news. At once, it dwarfs the rest of the proceedings on the field with its awfulness, but by raising awareness perhaps we are finally able to start addressing these problems. Baseball, not wanting to look insensitive and concerned about its public image, has always taken steps to reduce the most visible violence within the game, and is now working to address that which surrounds it.

Yet still, even as it makes rules to reduce home plate collisions, protect hitters and pitchers from brain injury, and now to introduce a policy to discipline players who abuse the people they purport to love, baseball remains relatively silent on head hunting by its pitchers. We saw this again on Monday as Marcus Stroman threw a 92 miles per hour fastball behind Orioles’ catcher Caleb Joseph’s head:

The circumstances are abundantly stupid, as Joseph accidentally stepped on Jose Reyes’s hand in the fifth inning. Reyes took exception to the placement of Joseph’s foot, possibly because it could be construed as blocking the plate, and the two exchanged words. Taking it upon himself to avenge Reyes, Stroman willfully put Joseph in danger.

How much danger?

That’s Miami Marlins MVP candidate Giancarlo Stanton getting drilled in the face by a Mike Fiers fastball last week. After writhing on the ground and coughing up blood, Stanton was sent to the hospital with facial fractures, and what was described as “dental damage.” Here is a picture of the result, if you can stand to look at it. Understandably, Stanton is probably out for the rest of the year.

Fiers doesn’t throw especially hard. His fastball generally runs between 89 and 92 miles per hour, and he almost never hits batters (just twice in 205 career innings). Indeed, according to Brooks Baseball’s Pitchf/x, he almost never pitches inside, preferring to work away. It’s been successful for him. All of which is to say that Fiers is not a headhunter and, as far as pitchers go, he’s not dangerous. We can take Fiers at his word that this awful scene was an accident.

That’s also somewhat frightening, however. Without meaning to, Mike Fiers did some serious damage to Giancarlo Stanton, who will have to undergo a lengthy recovery process. The Marlins, who were at least theoretically in the wild card hunt will have to play the rest of 2014 without their best player. This non-hit by pitch (Stanton technically swung at the ball) could have altered a young man’s career and the game’s history. It certainly will cost him a chance at the NL MVP award.

Stroman, on the other hand, throws harder and very much intended to buzz Caleb Joseph’s head. Joseph, the Orioles’ starting catcher with Matt Wieters out, and perhaps a player Stroman would have to face in the postseason if the Blue Jays get their butts in gear and either the A’s or Royals collapse, represents an important cog in Baltimore’s World Series hopes. If he had been hit like Stanton, or perhaps worse, that too would potentially disrupt the integrity of the postseason.

And don’t tell me there needs to be “due process” or that we don’t know what Stroman actually intended. I don’t care that I can’t say for certain what was going on in his head. This isn’t a court of law and plausible deniability can only be stretch so far. Even if it couldn’t, Joe West tossed Jonathan Papelbon earlier this week for appearing to make a lewd gesture toward Philadelphia fans. Papelbon’s excuse was that he was adjusting his cup. Now, I don’t believe that, and you don’t believe that, but it’s a plausible enough excuse. It’s certainly better than “the ball got away from me and almost maimed the player with whom I decided my team had a beef.” Major League Baseball saw through Papelbon’s excuse, however, and gave the reliever a seven game suspension. If you are trying to tell me that a stray crotch-grab is worse than assaulting another player on the field with a weapon, I’m sorry, I’m not buying that. I mean, yes, Papelbon was an idiot, but at least his actions couldn’t have harmed anyone, except in their delicate sensibilities. Players and coaches, meanwhile, have actually died from being hit by baseballs.

Of course, Stroman probably won’t be punished at all. He wasn’t thrown out of the game in question, and as we saw with the Arizona Diamondbacks a month ago, baseball has little interest in protecting its players from causing deliberate harm to each other, only in preserving the appearance of peace. That’s a shame. As long as pitchers and managers are permitted to put opposing players in danger on a whim, the game is still going to be too violent and too irresponsible. I pray someone doesn’t have to get more hurt than Giancarlo Stanton for everyone to realize it.

Update 4:10 pm: MLB got around to suspending Marcus Stroman, more than insinuating that they believe his pitch at Caleb Joseph’s head was intentional.

Good on MLB for getting it right eventually where, as we pointed out earlier Wednesday, the umpires had failed completely.