Former Major League All-Star charged in bat attack

If I was a pitching coach, all my pitchers would be trained in some sort of martial arts,preferrably using the legs and feet so as not to risk injuring your pitching hand.

We would throw inside.

We would not allow hitters to dominate the plate.

I don't think I would order beanballs,That would be up to the pitcher.

However ,this guy who charged the mound with a bat,would get thrown at constantly from that point on.

 

i almost never see anyone get hurt with beanballs, unless it gets the hands. last week lastings milledge got drilled twice intentionally for being too celebratory. he laughed it off and i am sure he knows the price for showboating, which he is willing to pay. i dont think players would take it so lightly if it were career-threatening.

of course i am referring to ordinary beanings thrown at the ass or thigh, never a head-hunter up in a man's grill, which should result in a bench clearing brawl and suspension.

 

Intentional beanballs are an important part of baseball. Always have been and always will be. It's the players way of "policing" themselves. Some guy get's cocky and lets just say he stands arms raised above his head in a "look at me I'm a freaking god and you suck" gesture, the best way to let him know that's not acceptable, is to hit between the numbers on his back. As a hitter, you have 3 choices, get out of the way, take one for the team, or go join a womens recreational league.

 

Sad, but true. In fact some pitchers can get "black balled" if they don't brush a marked batter back or use a beanball. It's an issue of supporting your teammates.

 

I guess it may be splitting hairs, but I consider getting 'plunked' and getting beaned 2 different things. Getting plunked, like Nooch said and the example you use above, is what the players use to police themselves. It's a pitch that doesn't have malicious intentions other than to let a guy know he crossed some professional line and that's his punishment for doing it.

Getting beaned is like the pitch Clemens bounced off Piazza's dome. Obviously, that didn't happen to Offerman or he wouldn't have been able to charge the mound with his bat, but I could see where a guy would get pissed if it happened and it wasn't warranted.

 

Like what that chump Bonds did when he broke Aaron's HR record? why doesn't anyone throw at him? he's got armor to take it.

 

Offerman should be in prison and at the very least deported back to whichever country he's originally from.

There's NO excuse for that.

 

Ironically, Baseball Reference has the recently late Phil Rizzuto as the #2 comparable player to Offerman. Sometimes their comparisons are screwy...but they're often spot-on.