Ouch! Are ‘Bad’ Baseballs To Blame For The Brawls?

It seems like a disturbing trend in baseball and it's not good for the game. Pitchers seem to be hitting batters more often and no one is happy about it. I attended the Binghamton Rumble Ponies doubleheader on Wednesday, April 27th, and a few batters were hit by pitches.

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You may recall on April 21st, Binghamton Rumble Ponies pitcher, Marcel Renteria hit Portland Sea Dogs Tyreque Reed on the hip with a slider, and a brawl ensued.

Binghamton Rumble Ponies and Portland Sea Dogs Brawl

It occurred again on Wednesday, April 27th when New York Mets third baseman J.D. Davis was hit by a pitch and had to leave the game. An inning later, Mets pitcher Yoan Lopez threw high and tight to St. Louis Cardinals Nolan Arenado.

The benches cleared and Arenado and Cardinal's first base coach Stubby Clapp was ejected from the game. The night before, former Rumble Pony Pete Alonso was hit in the head with a pitch, it was just one of three times that the Cardinals hit a Mets player.

The Mets have been hit 19 times in only 20 games this season and that is the most in the league. So what is going on in the major leagues? New York Mets pitcher Chris Bassitt thinks that he knows what the problem is. He thinks it's because the baseballs are bad.

Bad Baseballs In Major League Baseball

He believes that MLB knows that the baseballs are bad but they don't care. It's not the weather that's causing this issue. So are the baseballs "bad?" Bassitt thinks that "inconsistent" may be a better word because some balls feel big and other balls feel small in their hands.

When I was watching the Rumble Ponies game on Tuesday night, I noticed that several pitchers would throw their baseball out and ask for a new one. I assumed it was because it was cold and too slippery. I even saw a catcher try to throw to second base and watch it fall out of his hand.

New York Met (and ex-Binghamton Rumble Ponies) Pete Alonso compared it to a car accident. It doesn't matter if it's on purpose or not, people are still getting hit. It doesn't matter what the intent is because it's still happening.

I agree with Alonso, MLB has a problem and they need to address the issue sooner than later and not blame it on the cold weather.