Getting hit with a major league fastball hurts. That’s why pitchers do it on purpose sometimes. If you want to retaliate against a player, planting a pitch in their back or butt is going to hurt, and hurting a guy can sound like a good way to revenge. But players get hit by pitches by accident all the time, too. And those hurt just as much as intentional beanballs. Just ask Mets utilityman Jeff McNeil.
In the fourth inning of Wednesday night’s game against the Yankees, McNeil got drilled squarely in the center of his back by a 96 mph fastball from Carlos Rodón. His reaction tells you exactly how much it hurt.
Jeff McNeil throws his helmet after taking a pitch from Carlos Rodón to the back: pic.twitter.com/0laUnLRUUg
— SNY (@SNYtv) July 27, 2023
McNeil fell to the ground, threw his helmet and sat on the dirt with a look of simultaneous anger and disbelief. Rodón’s face was just as expressive, though. He looked disappointed in himself and remorseful to have hurt McNeil.
After McNeil went to first base, Rodón looked over and gave him a heartfelt, “Sorry.”
Carlos Rodón apologized to Jeff McNeil after hitting him with a fastball pic.twitter.com/vv0fNbypXv
— SNY (@SNYtv) July 27, 2023
But one apology wasn’t enough for Rodón, he felt so bad that he sought out McNeil later in the inning and told him, “My bad, dude. I’m sorry.”
he said “my bad dude im sry” to mcneil after hitting him i adore rodon pic.twitter.com/7HqPILOP0V
— tommy kahnle’s #1 fan (@jonmoxIeys) July 27, 2023
It was a nice display of sportsmanship and McNeil didn’t cling to any resentment.
McNeil said after the game that the helmet throw was “just frustration.”
“I just got hit with a 96 mph fastball. I get a little frustrated,” he said with a smile. “Just a little upset, but I know it wasn’t on purpose. He’s had a little bit of control issues his last few starts. He’s just trying to throw strikes there with the lead and one got away. It happens.”
As if there was any doubt, Rodón reiterated that he wasn’t trying to hit McNeil.
“There was no animosity. I wasn’t trying to throw at him,” Rodón said after the game. “Obviously, it was one of those pitches you don’t want to see get away from you—especially left on left. I’d rather be in the zone there and not hit a guy in the back. We’re professionals. I know this is our livelihood and the last thing you want to do is hit a guy like that.”
