If you can’t beat ‘em, bean ‘em. Miami Marlins starting pitcher Jose Urena felt it was necessary to punish Atlanta Braves 20-year-old sensation Ronald Acuna Jr. for showing up his team with leadoff homers over the past three contests. Urena used his first pitch to land a 97.5-mph fastball squarely below Acuna’s elbow. Urena has never opened a game with a faster pitch. It was in the 99th-percentile of his 2018 pitch allotment.
Acuna remained in the contest before departing during the second inning. X-rays indicated there was no break. Further tests were scheduled for Aug. 16. The Braves expect that Acuna avoided serious injury. A couple dugout clearances led to ejections of Brian Snitker and Urena.
Hardly anyone who’d seen the play or knew about the circumstances heading into that pitch would evaluate it as anything other than bad intent. Urena explained away the antics with poor control. He does have history on his side: Urena’s 10 hit-batsmen are second in the National League. His 2017 tally of 14 led all of MLB.
What a loser. Just imagine what Urena is thinking before his act: “I’m not a good enough MLB’er to compete head-to-head against a 20-year-old so I’m just gonna intimidate, possibly hurt the kid on my very first pitch.”
Human instinct encourages us to want to seek revenge on the culprits. Via Twitter, ESPN commentator and writer Keith Olbermann suggested Jose Urena receive a regular-season ending suspension. Olbermann requested a week-long suspension for Marlins manager Don Mattingly, whom Olbermann believed may have been behind the unsportsmanlike conduct.
Let’s have a little leadership, MLB. Suspend Urena for the season and Mattingly for a week. Let the union sue. This is the revenge of the mediocre against the gifted. Enough. https://t.co/mqs9yZDP4S
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) August 16, 2018
It’s hard to understand why MLB allows players to retaliate superb performance with beaning opposing batters. I suppose it’s hard to prove malicious intent with 100-percent certainty. Just considering the coincidences of each situation and reading between the lines of why something happened isn’t enough to merit severe punishment.
This is different. For a league that lacks star power and even recently criticized Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout for not marketing himself, they can’t afford a career-altering injury to a player with Acuna’s upside. I’m baffled when former players, such as New York Mets color commentator Keith Hernandez, not only support but encourage what happened to Acuna. MLB needs to understand that this is a serious issue.
“He’s killing the ball the last three games, he’s hit three home runs. “You gotta hit him.”
Give me a break. Entering an Aug. 15 matchup against the Angels, San Diego Padres shortstop Freddy Galvis had homered in three consecutive games. What did the Angels do? A hat-trick in strikeouts (three K’s). Wow! Baseball players doing their jobs and not upholding some misguided cliches? Whoa. Just think of those fans who actually got to witness competition, not retaliation.
What can the Braves do? What they did last night: a 5-2 victory. Snitker handled it perfectly. The Braves didn’t let their emotions get the best of them. Snitker defended his player. Let MLB handle any off-field punishments, which should at least include a nice hit in the pocketbook.
Atlanta doesn’t need to retaliate. The Marlins aren’t a pennant contender. They’ll likely remain that way for the foreseeable future. Atlanta needs to stay focused in a tightly packed NL East race. There’s no point beaning Jose Urena when one consider he’s a career .098 hitter. Why force a pitcher with a career 4.72 ERA (4.74 in 2018) out of a contest? Ejecting Urena may have actually helped Miami.
What Urena did to Acuna is akin to what a Twitter troll with about 20 followers does to a more prestigious figure with hundreds of thousands of followers. Does someone like Clay Travis need to respond to that? Hell no. Just ignore the bastard unless that troll is a prime candidate for entertaining your followers. Don’t waste time on losers.
I can’t help but imagine how Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson would handle every situation. Mr. Crime Equals Playing Time. While what Urena did technically wasn’t a crime, it’s still an assault with a dangerous weapon. When the Braves and Marlins meet for a four-game series next week, Jackson would leave him in to pitch the entire game. Pitch count at 200? Nah, you’re staying in, brother. You gotta fight through it, man.
Seriously though. MLB should make an example out of Jose Urena. It’s a no-name pitcher in an unenthusiastic market. Marlins fans would probably enjoy seeing him suspended. I’m not sure he’d care much though. Does suspending him for remainder of season even mean much? Postseason baseball is out of their cards. A nice little hit in the pocketbook could do the trick. Nobody likes that.
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Joshua Huffman was born and collegiately edumacated in Middle Tennessee. That said, Huffman spent 13-plus years with the type of Northern Wisconsinites and Yoopers who turn Nashville bars into alcohol wastelands whenever NFC North teams travel to play the Tennessee Titans. This makes him the NoBro of SoBros. He has published content for Yahoo! Sports (via Contributor Network) and Titan Sized, among other venues. At SoBros, he’ll provide Daily Fantasy Sports suggestions and broad sports coverage. Check out more of his musings at his blog, Millennial on Maple Street.
