Fear and Loathing in the Batter's Box.

See the previous post:

Thursday, June 27, 2013
Fear Strikes Out. And "scared shitless".
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One on one competition between two athletes of comparable ability has a single objective to achieve victory: destroy the opponent's will.

Basketball has the illusion of one on one but that can be interrupted at any time by other players.  Among the mainstream sports in the USA there are three one on one confrontations:
- boxing
- tennis
- pitcher/batter in baseball.

Boxing's crushing of the will is plainly brutal by its nature.  Tennis lacks the physical contact and overt brutality of boxing  but is is just as focused on destroying the opponent's will.  Baseball is somewhere in between.  The pitcher and batter are separated as in tennis but the possibility of lethal force is a real and present danger.

The pitcher controls the action and this not a match of equals.  The pitcher stands on a mound throwing downhill.  The pitcher always wins in the long term.  Always.  Since 1916 only two batters have had a .500 batting average (BA) for as many as 40 at bats (AB) in a season.

Rk	Player	BA	AB	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos
1	Rudy Pemberton	.512	41	1996	26	BOS	AL	13	45	11	21	8	0	1	10	2	0	4	2	0	0	0	3	1	.556	.780	1.336	*9/7
2	Gil Coan	.500	42	1947	25	WSH	AL	11	47	5	21	3	2	0	3	5		6	0	0		0	2	1	.553	.667	1.220	*9

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/27/2013.

Since 1916 only ten pitchers had BA against >=.319 and qualified for league ERA title:

Rk	Player	BA	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	GS	CG	SHO	GF	W	L	W-L%	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA	ERA+	HR	BF	AB	2B	3B	IBB	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	PO	BK	WP	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	Pit	Str
1	Livan Hernandez	.342	2008	33	TOT	ML	31	31	2	0	0	13	11	.542	0	180.0	257	129	121	43	67	6.05	71	25	811	752	53	3	4	2	5	9	24	3	5	2	1	3	.375	.520	.895	137	2800	1745
2	Rick Waits	.330	1981	29	CLE	AL	22	21	5	1	0	8	10	.444	0	126.1	173	74	69	44	51	4.92	75	7	578	524	27	2	1	1	5	4	13	7	5	2	0	5	.380	.429	.810	134
3	Carlos Silva	.324	2006	27	MIN	AL	36	31	0	0	2	11	15	.423	0	180.1	246	130	119	32	70	5.94	75	38	811	759	44	2	4	7	6	7	16	10	2	0	0	1	.354	.538	.892	128	2693	1790
4	LaTroy Hawkins	.323	1999	26	MIN	AL	33	33	1	0	0	10	14	.417	0	174.1	238	136	129	60	103	6.66	76	29	803	736	40	4	2	1	1	5	16	10	5	0	0	9	.373	.507	.880	120
5	Bill Gullickson	.322	1994	35	DET	AL	21	19	1	0	1	4	5	.444	0	115.1	156	79	76	25	65	5.93	82	24	521	484	27	6	2	4	7	1	3	8	3	0	0	4	.360	.552	.912	130
6	Lary Sorensen	.322	1982	26	CLE	AL	32	30	6	1	0	10	15	.400	0	189.1	251	130	118	55	62	5.61	74	19	849	779	40	6	6	3	3	9	25	11	4	3	3	5	.365	.462	.827	126
7	Wade Davis	.321	2013	27	KCR	AL	15	15	0	0	0	4	5	.444	0	81.2	108	52	45	32	71	4.96	82	10	373	336	19	0	0	2	1	2	13	2	2	0	0	4	.382	.467	.849	133	1477	933
8	Jim Deshaies	.321	1994	34	MIN	AL	25	25	0	0	0	6	12	.333	0	130.1	170	109	107	54	78	7.39	66	30	596	530	39	5	0	2	5	5	10	18	8	5	2	1	.382	.583	.965	144
9	Brian Anderson	.320	2004	32	KCR	AL	35	26	2	1	2	6	12	.333	0	166.0	217	123	104	53	70	5.64	85	33	745	679	54	0	4	1	5	7	22	1	4	4	0	2	.366	.545	.911	133	2769	1693
10	Frank Baumann	.319	1961	27	CHW	AL	53	23	5	1	13	10	13	.435	3	187.2	249	128	117	59	75	5.61	70	22	860	781	40	8	4	2	11	5	18	5	4	3	0	3	.366	.475	.841	132

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used

Generated 6/27/2013.

The pitcher always has the advantage in the long run.  In addition, the pitcher can decide to intimidate the batter.  If a boxer tries that, he'll be treated in like manner.  Boxers adhere to the admonition of the referee: protect yourself at all times.

The pitcher may hit the batter with a pitch but the batter may not hit the pitcher.  99% of the time the pitcher may do this with impunity and any punishment rarely fits the crime.  100% of the time the  batter is punished for retaliating.  The pitcher and batter are never equal in any sense.

By its nature the batter is in mortal danger even if the pitcher is not acting with reckless disregard for human life.  The pitcher might hit the batter accidentally.  The batter might hit a pitch that strikes the pitcher but that is much less likely.

Batters must deal with the basic human aversion to being hit and enduring pain and injury.  We naturally recoil from that.  The batter must act against his own best interests.

How many batters had the talent to hit .400 but could not deal with the intimidation of being hit?  Slow pitch softball to me is the essence of the game: hit, field, run the bases.  The softball pitcher merely facilitates getting the ball in play.  Softball batters can have a .500 BA.  There is zero fear.  When we watch Major Baseball League (MBL) games we rarely notice the fear.  It usually takes a violent act for us to be awakened but the batter is aware on every pitch because the batter may die on each pitch.

Thoughtless announcers use the word plunk to describe a batter being hit by pitch (HBP).  For a ball traveling at 90 miles per hour (mph) released from about 55 feet a more appropriate word might be drilled.

Even worse is the description of a batter being hit in the head: beaned.  Say what?  How about the batter had his skull fractured or his face smashed?

We accept the intimidation.  The pitcher fires a fastball at the batter's head and the batter is expected to use his world class reflexes to flip himself backwards onto the ground to save his own life.  If he doesn't then the batter is often blamed.  After getting up the batter is angry and/or frightened.  He's not thinking straight.  The pitcher throws a curve ball low and away and the batter swings and misses, striking out. Now he's really upset.  But what can he do?  If he charges the mound, he will be suspended.  Possibly worse, his antagonist may beat him up, adding insult to injury.  See Nolan Ryan throwing at Robin Ventura, Ventura charging the mound, Ventura getting pummeled by Ryan who is outraged that his right to act with reckless disregard for human life has been challenged.

If the pitcher is not succeeding enough against a particular batter to satisfy himself, he can simply hit the batter in the head with a pitch.  See Roger Clemens "beaning" Mike Piazza.  Imagine Roger Federer charging the net and hitting Rafael Nadal with his racket because Nadal is winning their tennis match.

Remove fear and loathing from the batter's box.  Reduce the pitcher to a facilitator, not the dominant player on the field.  Or eliminate the pitcher completely, replaced by a machine or tee.