Hunt and Peck

Did Jake Woodford hit Nick Castellanos on purpose: A VeRy SciEnTiFiC analysis (and Hunt and Peck)

Let’s review.

By lil_scooter93 Apr 5, 2021, 2:00pm EDT

St Louis Cardinals v Cincinnati Reds — whoops

During the Cardinals game on Saturday against the Reds a little scuffle broke out. The snafu, if you will, began after Reds third baseman Nick Castellanos scored on a wild pitch that turned into a play at the plate, and then flex and screamed in Cardinals pitcher Jake Woodford’s face. Castellanos was emotional because he felt that Woodford hit him on purpose. Jomboy has the breakdown:

So a few things. First of all, no one likes getting hit by a pitch. It hurts and is overall no fun. If I were a baseball player and I got hit by a pitch obviously on accident, I would probably be a little salty about it. If I thought it was on purpose, I would be real good and mad. So I get it. He mad.

The second thing: screaming in someone’s face during a pandemic is neither polite, nor hygienic. Also it is just tacky. Maybe do just the scream not in someone’s face or take a few steps away and do the flex? There is probably a solution to fulfilling one’s flexing and screaming needs that does not involve violating the league’s social distancing protocols.

Let’s get back to the question at hand: the crime.

MLB suspended #Reds Nicholas Castellanos 2 games. #StLCards Jake Woodford wasn't even fined. Understand hard to read intent, but seemed Woodford hit Castellanos on purpose. So dangerous act goes unpunished and the reactive, non-contact gestures are punished #Wrong
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) April 5, 2021

Means: Of course Woodford had the means. We saw him commit the act of hitting Castellanos with a pitch on video. He had access to the baseball and the ability to throw it very hard at the target.

Motive: The alleged motive is that on Thursday’s game Castellanos his a home run off Jack Flaherty and did some hopscotch down to first base. It seems like a stretch that would be the catalyst for the rookie coming in the game in relief the third inning would be looking to seek sweet vengeance for that. If the Cardinals wanted to hit him couldn’t Adam Wainwright have just done it the two times he faced him? It is very hard to prove mens rea as we know and we don’t have much here even if it wasn’t.

Opportunity: The game was far from a blowout at 6-2 in the bottom of the fourth inning. There were two outs, though, which would be an ideal time to drill someone. It was the first pitch of the plate appearance which is suspicious.

Folks, I am far from an expert, but without the intent, it doesn’t seem like there is much of a case. At least, that seems to be what Major League Baseball ruled when issuing punishments for the fracas.

Discpline announced for the #stlcards and Reds: Nolan Arenado, Jordan Hicks, Yadier Molina have been fined.

Suárez and Winker fined for the Reds.

Castellanos suspended two games and is appealing.
— Jeff Jones (@jmjones) April 5, 2021

It might be #wrong, but everyone else had very clear and provable intentions and motivations for their actions. The pitch by Woodford that ignited the whole thing, though? What do you think?