With Laureano Back in Athletics' Lineup, Will Batters Resume Getting HBP?
Ramón Laureano rejoins the Oakland A’s lineup Tuesday for the finale of a two-game series in Phoenix against the Diamondbacks.
It will be worth watching his at-bats. In the four games since he’s been out of the lineup, A’s batters have been hit by a pitch just one time. In the five games before that, with Laureano batting second hand somehow a prime target, A’s batters were hit seven times, including Laureano three times.
It was the third of those, a week ago Sunday in the Coliseum against the Astros, that led to Laureano charging the Houston dugout and eventually getting slapped with a suspension that started at six games and ultimately got reduced to four, the last of which was Monday.
For the season, the A’s have been hit by pitches 17 times in 23 games, the most in the American League. Of those, Laureano has been hit six times while Robbie Grossman and Mark Canha have been hit four times each.
Is it something about those three batters? Is there something about the 2020 season? It may well be the latter. Sports Illustrated‘s Tom Verducci explores the stats, which say that Major League batters are being hit at a rate of about one per game, which means the level has doubled in less than three decades, from 1992 to now.
Batters haven’t been happy about it, and they haven’t done much about it, either. Even Laureano’s charging of the Houston dugout came after words of insult concerning Laureano’s mother. Laureano had taken first base after being hit for the third time in the series and the second time in as many plate trips and didn’t light into the Astros specifically because of being hit.
It may be that the new rules against brawling that have tightened because of health and safety concerns in a time of coronavirus social distancing have led pitchers to feel there won’t be repercussions. Or maybe it’s just one of those statistical anomalies.
With Laureano back in the A’s lineup, it will be worth watching how he’s pitched today and the rest of the week, and whether or not he’s hit by any of those pitches. He’s no stranger to getting hit; he was plunked 11 times last year. But that took 123 games. He’s more than halfway there, and he’s only played in 19 games.
Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3
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