To Alex Lange, José Abreu's anger after an 0-2 fastball on the elbow in the ninth inning of the White Sox's 8-7 victory over the Tigers this afternoon probably seemed random and misplaced. Lange had faced Abreu all of one time before today. That first matchup took four pitches, none of which came close to hitting Abreu. The final pitch was a 1-2 slider that lingered over the plate, and Lange was fortunate that Abreu only lined out to center.
To Abreu, Lange's fastball wasn't a random occurrence. The pitcher might've been new, but he's well acquainted with the result: a hit by pitch, and probably a welt that lasts for days. Lange's wayward fastball was the 21st time Abreu's been hit, and this was among the more painful shots.
Abreu made his displeasure known during the next sequence, when he attempted to advance on a pitch in the dirt for the sole purpose of a hard slide into second. Words were exchanged and benches cleared, so Abreu's message was received.
That said, further messaging is required.
HBPs are not a part of Abreu's game, yet they're a big part of his life as a hitter, and the latter often leads people to assume the former. Here's Lange's reaction to Abreu's reaction after the game.
And you might figure that Lange is correct, given the HBP totals on Abreu's record. But with MLB.com's pitch-by-pitch video repository, you need not take his word for it, and you shouldn't.
Let's go back to the first inning on Monday and see where Abreu stands in the box against Matt Manning when the chalk of the inside corner still exists. He feet are nowhere near the inside line, and so no part of his body is hanging over the plate.
You can also go to Baseball Savant and look at the pitches that have hit Abreu this year. Unlike a typical plate-crowder, none of these involve airspace to which a pitcher has rights. Codify's Michael Fisher responded to my tweet showing the pitches that plunked Abreu with all of the pitches in the vicinity. If he were hanging over the plate, a lot of more of these pitches resulted in free bases.
You can also compare Abreu's HBP map to that of another guy who gets hit a ton, Oakland's Mark Canha. Canha's been clipped by a lot more pitches barely off the plate, and one of them has the inside corner, albeit high.
Abreu doesn't invite pitches with where he stands. He ends up wearing pitches because he keeps his front shoulder closed and has a really solid base. When he plants that lead foot, his bottom half isn't going anywhere, and his upper half is invested on fending off well-located inside fastballs with an inside-out approach.
Here's a bruisereel covering Abreu's first 10 HBPs of 2021.
Here are the second 10.
There are a couple of high breaking balls that Abreu doesn't mind taking off the upper arm, but otherwise, all these pitches are direct hits to Abreu's person, including a couple off the helmet.
The punishment Abreu has absorbed this season came up as a sidebar when Mike Wright was ejected for hitting Shohei Ohtani with the third of three misfired pitches. However, Ohtani was able to indirectly raise red flags by getting out of the way of the first fastball, which made the second way-inside heater look like it had a purpose.
Abreu's shape and style don't lend him the ability to evade such wild pitches. The ones that find him find him, and a lot are finding him. Then the guy who hit him has the nerve to say Abreu was asking for it.
The imbalance of HBP ownership is a byproduct of the game that can't really be ironed out, especially when most pitchers never come to the plate to bat for themselves. Abreu has been by 20 different pitchers over his 21 HBPs in 2021, with Cleveland's Cal Quantrill the only repeat offender. Lange has no reason think he should be singled out by Abreu, but Abreu has a reason to be immensely, cumulatively frustrated by the position Lange occupies.
When Lange says that it pitch wasn't malicious, it's both correct and unhelpful, especially when he tries to get Abreu to share responsibility for it. It might not help matters if he said "I was just really bad at my job," but at least it'd be more sporting.
By sliding hard into Niko Goodrum, Abreu forced everybody to directly engage the punishment he has absorbed. Umpires had to consider it when weighing ejections, opponents had to answer for it, and his clubhouse had to vocalize the idea of defending him.
Perhaps more importantly, Tony La Russa was seen talking to crew chief Tim Timmons after Liam Hendriks recorded the game's final out. There's nothing talking could accomplish with regards to Monday's game, but with another series against Detroit coming up, it doesn't hurt to make umpires aware of the likelihood of such future accidents. No pitcher intends to hit Abreu, but they all seem to be comfortable with the consequences, mostly because there weren't any until this afternoon. Abreu's vengeance might have come a little late, but with the postseason around the corner and the Astros responsible for two of Abreu's HBPs over seven games this year, it's superior to never.
(Photo by Dale Young/USA TODAY Sports)
