Atlanta Braves utility man Whit Merrifield was fuming Tuesday after being hit in the head by a pitch in the seventh inning.
Merrifield was struck in the back of the head by a 94 MPH fastball by Rockies reliever Jeff Criswell. The veteran did not appear seriously hurt, and was visibly angry on the field before leaving the game.
After the game, Merrifield explained why he was so frustrated, and he attributed the issue to the state of pitching in MLB and the lack of consequences for pitchers who miss the mark that badly.
“The way pitchers are throwing now, there’s no regard for throwing up and in,” Merrifield said, via Gabriel Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Guys are throwing hard as they can and they don’t care where the ball goes. It’s (crap). You can’t hit a guy anymore back. 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. And the teams are bringing pitchers up that don’t know where the hell the ball is going. They throw 100 mph, so they’re like, alright, we’ll see if he can get the guys out. Just set up down the middle and throw it as hard as you can. And it’s (crap). It’s driving me nuts. I hate where the game is at right now with that.”
Merrifield is a member of the league’s rules committee, and he said he fully intended to deliver the same message there.
“It’s just ridiculous and it has to be fixed or God forbid, something terrible is going to happen,” Merrifield added. “If this hits me in a different spot — it’s just pathetic. It’s frankly pathetic some of the pitchers we’re running out there that don’t know where the ball is going at the major-league level. And it’s got to be fixed.”
Merrifield’s concerns were definitely voiced prior to the introduction of the universal DH rule. It was pointed out that pitchers not having to hit for themselves could embolden them more to pitch inside, though it’s worth noting a reliever like Criswell would be highly unlikely to hit for himself no matter the rules.
Any batter is liable to be frustrated after getting hit in the head, even if it was not intentional. Merrifield, who has struggled with injuries this season, is only bound to be more annoyed by it.
