Thursday, April 17th, 2025

Did Jorge Lopez throw at Andrew McCutchen? Well, he lost control of a pitch that would have beamed Cutch’s head had he not dropped to the ground to avoid the pitch. Cutch responded by saying “you can’t throw at my head” as he was being held back while Lopez mouthed the words “you’re soft” in reply. So you decide. Was it intentional? Their last matchup in 2024 had McCutchen take Lopez deep. 

Of course it was intentional. The question now is how long should the suspension be? MLB suspended him 3 games.  Is that enough? Should throwing a fastball at the batter’s head be part of the game like it used to be? Or have we had enough of that old style of baseball? I think it is a clear decision to make. Suspensions need to be increased for this game. They need to make the suspensions mean something.  They call this a deterrent.

Why? Because these players get paid millions of dollars to play the sport and taking a ball to the face is not just an injury that can sideline you a few months. It can potentially end a player’s career. The fact that they suspended him was good but it’s not good enough. The only thing the team who loses the player being struck by the pitch gets a free baserunner at First. That team getting hit by the pitch could be losing a star player for months because of this injustice. The punishment needs to be more severe. It needs to be something to prevent this from continuing to happen. The team losing the player to injury builds their team and decides their payroll by these individuals in their roster. It cost the team money if they lose the player for months. And depending on which player it is, it could be even more costly based on what that player’s contribution is for the team. 

Then there’s the team who hits the batter. If no punishment is given, how is this a fair situation? Lopez not only tried to hurt McCutchen but he also showed no remorse for his atrocious actions. For that alone he should be suspended. There are too many unwritten rules in baseball and it is about time this one should be defined. Make the punishment more extreme to the offending team. I think a month should be the minimum penalty if Lopez were to have hit McCutchen in the head. Since it was only attempted because Cutch got out of the way, 2 weeks is the penalty for throwing at a player’s head. 

Why is it so severe? Because this game has come a long way. You are not allowed to take out catchers colliding into them at home plate. You cannot take out a Shortstop sliding into 2nd base to break up a double play. They are trying to protect the defenseless players. Too much time is lost when those fielders are injured. Do you think Chase Utley would have like to be on the receiving end of his criminal slide to take out the Shortstop? Buster Posey had a rule named after him after he was so viciously taken out at Home Plate. Too much can happen in that time the player misses on the Disabled List. It is about making the game safer because of the millions it costs to build these rosters. And if a pitcher is hurt by a hitter smashing the ball out of the ballpark and chooses to throw at that batter the next time they face each other, that pitcher should be thrown out of the game and pay a steep fine for trying to get even.