Austin Adams’ Greatest Hit-By-Pitches
Baseball prides itself on its vast ocean of statistics. We have old-school stats like RBI, new school stats like wRC+, simple stats like HR, and complex stats like xwOBAcon. None is more farcical than Padres pitcher Austin Adams‘ WHIP. As any fantasy baseball player knows, WHIP stands for Walks-plus-Hits-per-Innings-Pitched. Adams’ 1.15 WHIP is actually quite good, but it completely misses the forest through the trees: his record-breaking 23 HBP in only 48 2/3 innings.
23 HBP in a season is tied for the most by any pitcher in the past 100 years with Howard Ehmke of the 1922 Detroit Tigers, but that’s not even close to a fair fight. Ehmke faced 1,232 batters that year over 279 2/3 innings. Adams plunked 23 of only 221 opposing hitters. He’s the first pitcher in modern AL/NL history to clip more than 10 percent of hitters.
Highest Single-Season HBP% (min. 30 innings)
- 2021 Austin Adams, 10.41%
- 2021 Dillon Maples, 6.20%
- 2013 Johnny Hellweg, 4.94%
- 1960 John Tsitouris/2007 Sean White, 4.85%
To match Ehmke’s record in roughly 1/6 the playing time is unfathomable. It’s the HBP equivalent of someone hitting 73 home runs… in April. Perhaps the most incredible aspect of this achievement is that manager Jayce Tingler keeps letting him pitch. His conventional numbers are excellent: 12.9 K/9, 4.4 H/9, and zero home runs allowed, but they’re mitigated by hitting a batter roughly once every other inning.
Each of his 23 misdemeanors is special in its own way. None of them appear intentional, thankfully. For your viewing pleasure, here are some of his greatest hits.
Bases Loaded
The first time Adams directly plunked in a run was August 21 against the Phillies. (It would happen again later in the year, which we’ll cover below.) Brad Miller takes one off the back shin to increase their lead to 3-1 in the eighth inning. Fortunately for Tingler, San Diego won this game 4-3 in ten innings. Otherwise, he would’ve had some serious explaining for why Adams was on the mound in this situation at all. This was his 17th HBP of the season. He entered the game in relief of Tim Hill who had already plunked a batter after loading the bases! If that’s the way your team gave up the lead in the late innings, Adams would be the last pitcher you should call upon with the bases still loaded.
All 23 of Adams’ HBP happened via his slider, so the lower leg is a very common place for left-handed hitters to take one. He throws the pitch 87.5 percent of the time. It features outstanding horizontal break, especially thrown from his low arm slot. It’s almost an impossible pitch to hit, but clearly, it’s even more difficult to control.
Reactions
The beauty of HBP is that they catch everyone by surprise. It’s functionally the same thing as a walk, but no one is ever prepared. Ball four only comes after ball three, but a batter can take a pitch on the thigh at any time, just like San Francisco’s Mike Yastrzemski did here on May 7.
Plunked batters are baseball’s great unifier. All fans boo them, whether they’re home, away, or neutral supporters. Booing is a collective, indiscernible swarm, but sometimes a hot mic picks up individual contributions. Here we have a couple of chuckleheads going, “Ooohhhhhh!” like they’re auditioning for The Sopranos.
Fan reactions are one thing, but players on the field are another matter.
Cincinnati’s Shogo Akiyama tried to skip rope to avoid a bouncer on July 1, but his footwork wasn’t fancy enough… or was it? Batters normally trot directly down to first base when they get hit, but Akiyama hung around. He didn’t even appear to realize he was hit! The ball bounced in front of his back foot, and it could’ve nipped either leg, but Akiyama clearly didn’t feel a thing. If you say so, Ump.
Danger
We won’t embed the video of what happened to Miami’s Jon Berti on July 22. Here’s the link if you want to watch it. Adams drilled him in the head with an errant slider. He was immediately removed from the game and placed on the 7-day concussion IL. He hasn’t returned to action since.
So far, we’ve seen only lefties getting hit in the lower part of the body. That can certainly injure someone, but the action of a right-hander’s slider means that same-side hitters usually get hit in the head or upper body. There’s no precedent in MLB for a pitcher as HBP-prone as Adams. We’re well beyond the point when we should discuss whether he’s a safety hazard. The wrong kind of HBP can alter someone’s life and career. It certainly has for Berti.
Will Smith
Just above Dodgers catcher Will Smith’s elbow is a specific type of magnet: it attracts baseballs thrown by Adams. Here’s one on April 16:
Then again on April 22:
Finally, once more on September 12:
This season, Smith has faced Adams six times, getting plunked thrice. To be fair, he likes to crowd the plate (hence the elbow guard) and his 16 HBP are tied for the second in the NL among hitters. The Smith-Adams matchup is an HBP perfect storm. He’s been Adams’ victim of choice all season; the pitcher hasn’t clipped anyone else more than once. Maybe it’s just a “Smith” thing. He also hit Dominic (Mets) and Pavin (Diamondbacks). Five HBP in a season against Smiths must be some kind of record.
Coup de Grâce
No single pitch encapsulates Adams’ 2021 season more than his 23rd-and-final (so far) HBP. Down 6-0 in the eighth against the Dodgers, he commenced the inning by drilling— who else?— Will Smith. Following a Cody Bellinger double, Gavin Lux took a slider off his shoetop to load the bases. Matt Beaty struck out, but Mookie Betts caught one right on the “E” on the back of his jersey.
Not only did this force Ehmke to shove over, but it was also the third HBP of the inning, plating his most frequent target. The next three batters recorded a sac fly, a walk, and a lineout. His WHIP was “only” 2.000 for the outing, yet he surrendered five baserunners.
Is Adams a good pitcher? That’s a complicated question. 70 strikeouts compared to 24 hits allowed with no home runs is exemplary. His wipeout slip-n-slider makes him one of the most difficult batters to barrel up in MLB. But his recklessness and complete inability to control his main pitch cancels out his positive traits. He’s the most fearsome pitcher in the league for reasons that have nothing to do with his strikeout rate. Smith and Berti can attest to that.
-Daniel R. Epstein
