No team knows just how quickly fortunes can turn due to an errant hit by pitch than the Atlanta Braves. While Atlanta doesn't rank among the most hit by pitches for a team this season (that "honor" goes to the Mariners who have totaled 100 HBPs as of September 9), the impact on their roster has been clear as Austin Riley has been out for weeks after a fastball found his hand and broke it.
Another Brave with a legitimate gripe here is Whit Merrifield who got hit in the head by a pitch that got away from Colorado's Jeff Criswell. To say Merrifield was upset after getting hit is an understatement and with good reason. There is more than just baseball games on the line here as players' health and careers could be put in jeopardy because pitchers can't seem to control their stuff.
Whit Merrifield was removed from tonight's game after being hit by this pitch in the back of the head. pic.twitter.com/bEmv1ngplD
— Bally Sports South (@BallySportsSO) September 4, 2024
However, Merrifield is going a step further and championing some rules changes that would punish pitchers for hit by pitches to the head or hands which could open up an entire can of worms.
Braves infielder is working hard to get MLB to punish pitchers for hit by pitches
Merrifield has been unequivocal in his stance on this issue. He is tired of pitchers emphasizing velocity and stuff over anything else and putting hitters in jeopardy. For those already calling Merrifield soft, he has a point as there were more than three times as many hit by pitches last season than there were in 1980. That number is likely to increase by the time the 2024 season ends.
Where it gets weird is finding a punishment that actually feels fair. The consequences for a hitter getting pitched in on his hands or up and in are certainly greater, but throwing a pitcher out of a game because a ball slipped out of his hand doesn't feel like a great solution. There also seems to be no chance that pitchers are going to stop trying to throw hard or pitch inside and frankly, they shouldn't if they care about winning games.
The details are going to matter here, but Merrifield thinks that the new rules will be in place in 2025. “We’ll have something in place by the time the season starts next year. I’d be shocked if we didn’t. Everybody’s in agreement, it’s just about what is the punishment going to be, and how are we going to word it.”
It is honestly surprising that the players seem to be in agreement on this as you would think pitchers would take umbrage would being punished for something that is often outside their control. Perhaps loosening MLB's regulation of sticky stuff could be a carrot that would allow pitchers to control their stuff better. Whatever the changes will be, it sounds like we will know very soon what they will look like.