Meet Padres reliever Austin Adams, a 30-year-old right-hander pitching for his third team in as many seasons. There’s no reason you should know Adams, a 6’3” journeyman with a lifetime 3.59 ERA, except for that he’s about to make MLB history.
From Khris Davis finishing with the same batting average (.247) four years in a row to Joey Votto going over a decade without popping up to first base, baseball is littered with statistical anomalies. But Adams’ baffling 2021 might just top them all. An eighth-round pick of the Angels in 2012, Adams leads the majors in hit batsmen with 20, three off the record pace set by Howard Ehmke, who plunked a remarkable 23 batters in 1923. That still stands as the highest HBP total in the Live Ball Era, which began in 1920.
Adams, who drilled first baseman Pavin Smith in his most recent appearance Wednesday at Arizona, had hit just two batters in his career prior to this season (one each in 2017 and 2019). If Adams hits even one more batter this year—and he’s bound to with 28 games remaining on the Padres’ schedule—it would be the most we’ve seen since Kerry Wood's 21 HBPs in 2003 (h/t Jason Catania of MLB.com).
Of course, Wood pitched 211 innings that season. Adams, on the other hand, has just 45 2/3 innings on his 2021 odometer. The veteran has hit an unprecedented 9.7 percent of the 207 batters he’s faced, a truly staggering amount for a pitcher who has otherwise had a brilliant season. Opponents have hit an anemic .152 against Adams, who has yet to allow a home run in 2021.
MLB experienced a noticeable rise in hits batsmen earlier this year, which many attributed to pitchers throwing harder than they ever have. And while there’s probably some truth to that, Adams relies primarily on breaking balls, employing his slider on a whopping 87.7 percent of his pitches.
Adams, who is due a modest $580,200 salary this season, was traded to the Padres last summer in a seven-player swap with Seattle. As noted by Cespedes Family Barbecue on Twitter, one of the players involved in that trade—Mariners first basemen Ty France—has been on the receiving end of 21 HBPs this season, a club record and second-most in the majors behind Oakland’s Mark Canha (22).
This bizarre chain of events linking Adams to France is further proof we’re living in a simulation.
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