Mets starting pitcher Chris Bassitt didn’t mince words when he expressed frustration and concern for the well-being of his teammates after three more New York batters were drilled by pitches in Tuesday night’s 3–0 win over the Cardinals, bringing the team’s league-leading total to 18 HBP’s through 19 games.
Bassitt placed the bulk of the blame on MLB and the baseballs, which he says are “all different.”
“It’s extremely annoying to see your teammates constantly get hit, and if you get hit by certain pitches it is what it is, but to get hit in the head the amount that we’re getting hit is unbelievable,” Bassitt said postgame, per SNY. “I had some close calls tonight, and I’ve been hit in the face [by a line drive] and I don’t want to do that to anybody ever, but MLB has a very big problem with the baseballs. They’re bad. Everyone in the league knows it. Every pitcher knows it. They’re bad.
“They don’t care. MLB doesn’t give a damn about it. They don’t care. We’ve told them our problems with them, and they don’t care.”
After Cardinals starter Jordan Hicks hit Dominic Smith in the second inning of Tuesday’s contest, Mets first baseman Pete Alonso was drilled in the helmet in the eighth, causing both benches to get a warning. It’s the second time this season that Alonso has taken a pitch to the head.
In the ninth inning, outfielder Starling Marte was the third member of New York’s lineup to get plunked.
Bassitt wasn’t the only member of the Mets to sound off after Tuesday’s game. Catcher James McCann implored the league to speak with players about the baseballs and Marte said that his team would have to do something about the HBP’s if they continued to happen.
Mets manager Buck Showalter echoed the concerns of his players, especially regarding Mets batters being hit in the head with pitches.
“It’s one thing to get hit in the toe or knee, but we’re getting a lot of balls in the head and the neck, and it’s just not good. Not good,” Showalter said, per SNY. “You care about your players, and without getting into right and wrong and what have you, you reach a point where it’s about safety of your players. We’re lucky. You’re talking about a pitch that broke his helmet. It’s not good, I’m not happy.”
Showalter said that Alonso passed all of his concussion tests after Tuesday night’s game, but that the Mets slugger will probably sit out Wednesday afternoon’s game.
