Even a 6-foot-8, 250 pound pitcher worries about getting charged on the mound, former Rockies starter Jason Hirsh admitted Wednesday in the wake of Tuesday night’s Orioles-Royals bench-clearing brawl that saw a much smaller pitcher take a shot to the chin from a charging shortstop.
It’s already been quite the year for baseball fights. Despite being only a third of the way through the season, Major League Baseball has already seen two of its premier players involved in fights that ultimately lead to bench-clearing brawls.
Back in May, Toronto Blue Jays right fielder José Bautista was on the receiving end of a haymaker from Texas Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor that was the culmination of a series of escalating events beginning with Bautista’s infamous bat flip in Game 5 of the 2015 American League Division Series. Bautista served a one-game suspension and Odor served a seven-game suspension for their roles in the fight.
MLB now has another set of suspensions to dole out after the latest rumble in Baltimore.
Tuesday night in the Baltimore Orioles’ 9-1 win over the defending World Series champion Kansas City Royals, Orioles two-time All-Star Manny Machado charged the mound after he was intentionally hit by a pitch by Yordano Ventura.
After Machado limped out to the mound, he ducked under a punch and clocked Ventura in the face. It was a lopsided affair, with Ventura taking the brunt of the damage.
Machado, who is listed at 6-foot-3, 185 pounds, took on Ventura, who is listed by MLB at 6-foot, 195 pounds (but looks like the Royals might have fudged his weight by about 20 pounds north). WATCH & DECIDE FOR YOURSELF
On Wednesday, Hirsh joined Morning Mayhem with Dan Williams and Marcello Romano on Mile High Sports Radio 1340 AM | 104.7 FM to discuss the unwritten rules of beaning a player in the MLB.
“The game polices itself,” Hirsh said. “Guys will enter a game knowing that if there is a situation, you know bases are clear, there’s two outs and the guy that you need to exact revenge on is coming to the plate, I think everyone kind of understands what’s going to happen.”
Often times umpires will interject before the situation gets to the point of punches being thrown, but last night’s game was an example of when emotions get the best of two people.
“Usually in most cases,” Hirsh said. “You hit our guy, we hit your guy, we look at each other and say, ‘Are we done?’, ‘Yeah we’re done.’ Okay let’s move on.”
Hirsh, who was listed at 6-foot-8 and weighed in at 250 pounds, never had anyone brave enough charge the mound while he was pitching.
“Come on,” Hirsh said. “Nobody would charge a 6-foot-8 dude on the mound.”
Hirsh said that he did throw inside during his days as a pitcher, but would never really try to hit them intentionally. He did recall the first time that he tried to bean someone in the majors.
“The first time I tried, I hit the dude in the foot,” Hirsh said. “It wasn’t really the effect I was going for, but it happened to work out because he was the fastest guy on the team and he didn’t steal second base.”
Hirsh also told Danny and Cello what his game plan would’ve been if someone did work up the courage to come after him.
“Either my catcher better catch him first,” Hirsh said. “Or I’m gonna move towards second base and see how quickly my middle infielders get there.”
To hear more about charging the mound with Jason Hirsh, and some discussion about Aqib Talib and Von Miller, click to the podcast below…
https://soundcloud.com/milehighsports/6-8-16-rockies-pitcher-jason-hirsh-tells-danny-cello-you-must-land-crane-kick-if-mound-is-charged
Catch Morning Mayhem with Dan Williams and Marcello Romano every Monday through Friday from 7a-9a on Mile High Sports AM 1340 | FM 104.7 or stream live any time for the best coverage of Colorado sports from Denver’s biggest sports talk lineup.