Reds’ second baseman Derek Dietrich, yesterday (Saturday, June 22) was hit by a 71-m.p.h. change-up thrown by Brewers’ pitcher Alex Claudio. It was one in a half dozen recent “hits” for the left-handed batter, who set a new major-league record for most HBP taken in a single series – with six. (Taking one for the team appears to be part of Dietrich’s MLB repertoire.)
It all started Thursday night when Dietrich was hit by pitches from Jimmy Nelson (first inning; on an 0-2 pitch) and Matt Albers (ninth inning; on a 1-1 pitch), book-ending a one-for-three night. (The Reds won 7-1 in a game that saw six HBP – three to each squad. Payback?)
Friday night, Dietrich – now playing left field – proved to be an even more popular target. He was plunked an MLB single-game record-tying three times in five plate appearances. He also had a walk and scored four runs (without ever putting the ball in play). He was hit in the first inning by Chase Anderson (0-1 pitch); again by Anderson in the third inning (1-2 pitch); and by Junior Guerra in the seventh (1-0 pitch). The Reds won this one 11-7. There were four hit batters in the game.
Saturday was the final game of the series and, as noted earlier, Dietrich was hit one more time – for six HBP in a three-game set.
By the way, Dietrich getting pasted is not an unusual occurrence. As I write this, he’s been nailed an MLB-leading 15 times (hitting .234 with 18 home runs). He has, in fact, been hit by a pitch 108 times in seven seasons (608 games), including an NL-topping 24 times for Miami in 2016.
Hit BY PITCH RECORDS
Career Highs
- MLB – Hugh Jennings (287)
- NL – Craig Biggio (285)
- AL – Don Baylor (267)
Single Season
- NL – Hugh Jennings, Baltimore, 1896 (51)
- AL – Don Baylor, Boston, 1986 (35)
Most Seasons Leading His League
- Minnie Minoso, White Sox (10)
Most times hit in a game
- Three (30 times by 26 different players). Only Reed Johnson of the Blue Jays was hit three times in a game three times in his career (once in 2005, twice in 2006).
Dietrich’s six HBP in a series led me to think about what’s happening in terms of hit-by-pitch, bases on balls and wild pitches in this “throw as hard as you can for as long as you can” era. For you stat freaks, here are a few tidbits.
First, we all know what happening with strikeouts in this era. They have been up for 13 consecutive seasons – from 30,644 in 2005 to 41, 2017 in 2018. As I key this post, we are on a pace to see 2019 whiffs increase to 42,344.
So, how about those hit-by-pitch numbers? Ouch. Hit batsmen have been up in three of the past five seasons – going from 1,652 in 2014 to 1,922 in 2018. This season, we are on a pace to top 2018 at 1,981.
The chart below, give you a look at Hit By Pitch per game over the course of MLB history.
Then there are wild pitches, which have been up in each of the past five seasons – going from 1,696 n 2015 to 1,847 in 2018. This season, we are on a pace to drop down t0 1,757.
Looking historically, the trend has skewed up – particularly in recent years. In 1920, the number of wild pitchers per team per game was 0.17 (it was the same in 1950). In 1970, it was 0.32 (and the same in 1990). In 2005, it was actually down slightly to 0.30; while this past season, it was up to 0.38.
From BBRT’s viewpoint, it appears there clearly has been a sacrifice in control for the sake of velocity. (Thank goodness for batting helmets.) Note: This is an observation and speculation – I don’t really have the answers. Notably, as the chart below shows, walks per game have not followed a decidedly upward trend – which lead BBRT to speculate that once pitchers get to that three-ball count, they may actually take a little “something off the pitch” – adding control at the price of velocity. For now, I’ll just file all of this under the general category of how the game has changed.
Primary Resources: MLB.com; Baseball-Reference.com; Baseball-Almanac.com
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