ATLANTA — Whit Merrifield got lucky. He wasn’t seriously injured when a 95 mph fastball struck him in the head.
Still, the Atlanta Braves second baseman is livid about the state of pitching in Major League Baseball, saying it’s only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured or even killed.
“The way pitchers are throwing now, there’s no remorse or regard for throwing up and in,” Merrifield said after Tuesday’s game against the Colorado Rockies. “Guys are throwing as hard as they can, and they don’t care where the ball goes.”
Merrifield was struck behind the right ear by a pitch from Jeff Criswell in the seventh inning of Atlanta’s 3-0 victory.
Fortunately, the ball appeared to catch a bit of Merrifield’s helmet, though he was still forced to leave the game. He wasn’t in the lineup Wednesday for the Braves’ 5-2 win over Colorado but expects to return in a day or two after passing the concussion protocol and getting a clean bill of health from a precautionary CT scan.