Throwing at Trout?

[Young_Ump]

http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=29690985

I'm not one of those fans (umpire not a fan ) who thinks every inside pitch is being thrown at the batter, but this one looks pretty intentional to me. I won't even try to put myself in John Libka's shoes, because this is a level light-years beyond me. Plus its MLB so it has all the egos and grudges intertwined into everything. But what do you think about this? I feel like the pitcher could definitely be thrown out after the second one.

[umpstu]

1 hour ago, Young_Ump said:

http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=29690985

I'm not one of those fans (umpire not a fan ) who thinks every inside pitch is being thrown at the batter, but this one looks pretty intentional to me. I won't even try to put myself in John Libka's shoes, because this is a level light-years beyond me. Plus its MLB so it has all the egos and grudges intertwined into everything. But what do you think about this? I feel like the pitcher could definitely be thrown out after the second one.

What reason would he have to throw at Trout?  If you look at the pitcher after the second pitch he's clearly wiping his hand off.  Possible he wasn't able to grip it well enough to control it.  I just can't understand why you would want to drill the best player in baseball, unless Trout was an ass, which clearly he isn't.

[Thunderheads]

7 hours ago, umpstu said:

What reason would he have to throw at Trout?  If you look at the pitcher after the second pitch he's clearly wiping his hand off.  Possible he wasn't able to grip it well enough to control it.  I just can't understand why you would want to drill the best player in baseball, unless Trout was an ass, which clearly he isn't.

I don't see any "clearly wiping his hand off" motions .....  a finger twitch, maybe ..... but he reaction to those pitches doesn't look like those 2 were "accidental".   Maybe he's got a beef with him, but remember this gents ..... this is MLB .... VERY RARELY do pitchers miss by THAT much TWICE.  I would venture to guess there's something else going on there

[LMSANS]

I don't know. I'm not sure I would want to throw anything near the plate to Trout either. 

[maven]

If I were an MLB umpire, I would do exactly what my supervisors wanted me to do.

If it happened in amateur ball, I'd have to judge whether it was intentional, and then apply the appropriate rule.

C'mon, ask us a hard one!

[Young_Ump]

13 hours ago, maven said:

C'mon, ask us a hard one!

Who says it wasn't hard enough!

"I would do exactly what my supervisors wanted me to do." Is the easy way to get out of any hard question

[ArchAngel72]

I would have warned both teams after the 2nd one.

 

Oddly enough in the slow mo I thought it just grazed the back of his helmet.

Still scary stuff right there.

[dumbdumb]

These guys don't (always) need a reason or it could be a Lasorda reason like not giving me an autograph 13 years ago when I was a 9 year old kid. We would not have known about that if Lasorda did not tell it and kept it quiet or to himself. And Jeter with the inside pitch that missed him and the act like he was dying. They do what they got to do for a reason or no reason sometimes, or maybe just in your mind you think he is crowding the plate or getting too comfortable. Announce your presence with authority.

 

[grayhawk]

It shows Trout's restraint. I think a great number of MLB players might have, at a minimum, been yelling at the pitcher after the second one. At least a few (Bryce Harper?) would have rushed the mound.

Trout gives a small gesture with his hand saying, basically, WTF? That's as much displeasure I think I have ever seen him display.

[LRZ]

Since unwritten rules are in the news lately, if the pitcher meant to throw a "message pitch" or a "purpose pitch," it would be evil to throw at a batter's head, let alone do it twice.

[Phu Bai]

Anybody remember Don (the Headhunter) Drysdale?  It was his M.O.

[Aging_Arbiter]

22 hours ago, dumbdumb said:

Announce your presence with authority.

[dumbdumb]

Here is Uncle Joe's (Maddon) opinion and he agreed with the not intetional. 

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/sports/mlb/maddon-enough-is-enough-as-anderson-throws-near-trout-s-head-again/ar-BB18eq9B?li=AAggXBR

[Little Ott]

Mike Trout is on the list of players I would never want to see charging at me.  Never.

[Umpire in Chief]

I think the warning suffices. 

What could have Trout done to warrant it being intentional??? I'm guessing nothing as none of the articles I've read have shown any history to show why.

Even if it's bad control a couple of times with the same batter it should be addressed and warned. Yes you hear the bitching "you're taking the whole inside of the plate away from me"

Thats not our problem as umpires. They can still throw inside, just their accuracy better improve.