Ken Macha complains to MLB about Brewers being plunked

Brewers batters have been hit by an MLB-high 47 pitches this season and after the latest plunking of Prince Fielder over the weekend manager Ken Macha revealed that he’s complained to officials about the situation. Macha said he’s spoken to former umpire and current umpiring department special assistant Bruce Froemming, and Guy Curtright of MLB.com reports that “he called for Bob Watson, MLB vice president for rules and operations, to review things personally.” I’m all for managers sticking up for their players, but two factors make Macha’s stance seem kind of silly. First, while the Brewers lead baseball by being hit 47 times they aren’t that far ahead of the pack. In fact, the White Sox have been hit 46 times in two fewer games, so their hit-by-pitch rate is actually higher. Ozzie Guillen should probably co-sign Macha’s complaint to MLB. Beyond that, Fielder and Rickie Weeks are the only Brewers to be hit by more than three pitches and together account for two-thirds of the team’s total. Fielder is definitely being plunked more now than in past years, but Weeks just gets hit a lot, period. He’s been plunked 17 times in 441 plate appearances, which is only slightly higher than his career rate of 14 per 441 plate appearances.