It has been a season of overpowering pitching, unfathomable velocity and spin rates that have become a geometric impossibility, a season that has taken, among others, Jacob Misiorowski, Cristopher Sanchez and Mason Miller, to legendary levels. And then there is Dodgers pitcher Kyle Hurt, whose name personifies another trend in the game: The hit-by-pitch rate in the major leagues is historically high.
Through the All-Star break, there had been 0.43 batters hit per game, nearly three times the rate in 1980, and the second-highest season total ever, trailing only the 0.46 in the COVID-shortened season of 2020 -- understandable given that chaotic, 60-game campaign never allowed overworked, unprepared pitchers to develop a rhythm. But the rates have been historically high every year this decade.
This season, on May 26, 23 batters were hit in one day -- the most since June 17, 2025, when 29 players were hit by a pitch. That was the highest number of any single day in major league history.
Why is this happening?
Why so few hits, and so many hit batters?
"Pitchers are hunting velo and spin over strikes,'' Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper said. "The game has changed. The game is so hard. That's why I loved so much facing [Justin] Verlander, [Max] Scherzer and [Jacob] deGrom. They challenged you in the strike zone. Today's pitchers aren't trying to hit you. There is no malice. But when you're throwing 99-101 [mph] on average, near the head, you're messing with guy's lives.''
Said Washington Nationals pitcher Miles Mikolas: "There are just a bunch of big dudes out there who throw really, really hard and can really, really spin a breaking ball. But some of them just don't know how to control it.''
Incomprehensibly high velo, with spin so violent it will cut your shirt. And since Major League Baseball cracked down in June 2021 on the use of sticky stuff on the ball, pitchers are having trouble getting a grip. Without a firm grip, especially in cold weather, pitchers have problems throwing it where they want to.
"We are asking guys to throw as hard as they can to a location that they can't throw it to, with a pitch that they don't know how to throw,'' Seattle Mariners catcher Mitch Garver said. "They are told, 'Hey, a sinker would look good in your hand.' And they take it into the game that night! And it goes right into a hitter's hands.''
Former shortstop Larry Bowa, 80, a special assistant with the Phillies, said the soaring hit-by-pitch rate is also because "pitchers don't pitch inside anymore because they don't know how to pitch inside. I tell our guys, 'If the pitcher misses in on the first pitch, you can bet that the next three pitches are going to be away.'''
Logically, if a hitter isn't seeing as many pitches on the inside part of the plate, he is going to move closer to the plate so he can better cover the outside part. Hitters all over the game are diving across the plate to get to the ball away from them. The more they dive across, the more likely they'll get hit.
"Why so many hit batters? There just is less time to get out of the way,'' said Nick Punto, a 14-year major league veteran and current San Diego Padres coach. "Period.''
In late May, an American League pitching coach said the average pitch misses location by 11 inches: the plate is 17 inches wide. Consequently, many catchers set up in the middle of the plate instead of on a corner.
Said Padres first baseman Gavin Sheets: "The Rays have been doing that for years. They set their catcher up in the middle of the plate, which gives them 17 inches to work. Then they just let 'em go.''
Baltimore Orioles pitcher Chris Bassitt said the answer lies in the guardrails of the ABS system on a generation of pitchers who were taught to throw, not pitch. "In return for nasty, nasty stuff, you lose control. As soon as the ABS came in, how could the industry not notice that there would be a spike in the hit-by-pitch rate, a spike in the walk rate and a spike of injuries?" he said. "Now every minor league pitcher is going to stuff his way into the ABS. You can't put up the current guardrails, then complain when these things happen. We warned you that they would.''
Sure enough, the hit-by-pitch rate is also on the rise in leagues well below the majors.
"It is now a thing in high school and college baseball; the saying is 'just wear it,''' former Princeton baseball coach Scott Bradley said. "Guys go to the plate looking to get hit by a pitch. We played two teams this year who were hit over 100 times in a 40-game season. One team had a guy who didn't wear it in a game, and the next day, he was taking batting practice in a pink shirt [as punishment].''
Punto, a switch hitter, had 3,734 plate appearances in his major league career, and was hit three times (Mark Lemke holds the major league record for the most plate appearances without being hit by a pitch at 3,664).
"I was like the Matrix up there,'' Punto said. "My son [Nash], who is in high school, gets hit all the time. They wear it.''
Some young major league players today have been trained this way. Cardinals rookie second baseman JJ Wetherholt got hit by a pitch in five consecutive games this year; in the live ball era (since 1920), Carlos Quentin (2008) is the only other player to get by a pitch in five straight games.
And then there is Chicago White Sox rookie Sam Antonacci. In his one season (2021) at Coastal Carolina, he was hit 27 times in 226 at-bats. Last year, playing for three minor league teams, he was hit 35 times in 406 plate appearances. And now he's leading the American League in hit-by-pitches with 19. Antonacci had 15 HBPs in his first 200 plate appearances in the big leagues -- two more times than Mickey Mantle was hit in his career.
"A lot of pitchers have great control, but the movement on their pitches is at an all-time high,'' he said. "If they miss inside, I'm not moving. Those guys with 30-40 home run seasons have the privilege to get out of the way. I can't afford that. That's not my game. So I'm going to stay in there and let it hit me.
"I have a leg guard and an elbow guard. I trust the training staff if I get hit by a pitch. But the whole thing is an ego shield. At Coastal Carolina, we would practice getting hit by a pitch, there will be consequences if you do get out of the way. If it's coming at your head, you can get out of the way. Anywhere else, unless it's a 3-ball count, you're not getting out of the way. That's how I was taught.''
As Antonacci mentioned, hitters these days are protected more than ever by elbow and leg guards.
"Some hitters are wearing more padding than the catcher,'' Mariners manager Dan Wilson, a former catcher, said.
Added Bassitt: "I'd never tell anyone not to wear armor. It's foolish not to. Take 97 in the ribs, you're out two weeks. You get hit in the elbow, you run to first base, then you're out 6-8 weeks. No one wants that.''
With today's pitchers taught to throw as hard as they can on every pitch, spin every breaking ball as hard as they can, and worry about control second, there is no end to this trend. The HBP rate been at least 0.40 batters per game every year since 2018 and it's unlikely to stop. But not every big league player is going to the plate looking to wear it.
"I don't think anyone wants to wear it against [Padres fireballer] Mason Miller,'' Sheets said.
"If you just wear one from Mason Miller," Phillies outfielder Brandon Marsh said, laughing, "you are just stupid."
