Mariners second baseman Dee Gordon was hit on the right wrist by a J.A. Happ pitch in the third inning of Thursday night’s game against the Yankees. Per Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times, X-rays weren’t conclusive so Gordon will undergo further testing on Friday.
Gordon was actually more upset with Happ than in pain, Divish reports. Gordon said, “I was pissed off. It was the second time he threw up by my head. You’ve got to get the ball down. You can’t throw that pitch. I got a family. You need to get the ball, you need to get the ball the f-- down. That’s twice. If you can’t throw that pitch, don’t throw it.”
Here was the pitch in question:
As Gordon mentioned, both of Happ’s pitches in that third-inning at-bat were inside. Happ certainly wasn’t trying to hit Gordon on purpose -- and it doesn’t sound like Gordon thinks that, either.
It is understandable why Gordon is frustrated, but pitchers do need the ability to pitch high and/or inside occasionally in order to be effective. Sometimes, they are going to miss their spot and hit a batter accidentally. It’s part of the game, for better or worse. Happ, with 34 hit batters across 1,574 career innings and an average walk rate of 2.6 batters per nine innings since 2015, doesn’t have control issues to the point where he should decide not to pitch in certain locations.