Cincinnati got a painful reminder on Saturday that Sal Stewart is already drawing the kind of attention teams usually reserve for their most dangerous bats.
In the bottom of the fourth inning at Great American Ball Park, Pittsburgh starter Braxton Ashcraft sent a 97 mph fastball up and in that clipped Stewart on the left elbow. The rookie reacted immediately, slamming his bat into the ground and beginning to remove his protective gear while the crowd booed. Reds head athletic trainer Sean McQueeney and manager Terry Francona came out to check on him.
Stewart eventually walked to first base and stayed in the game after a short conversation with McQueeney and Francona, though he was clearly in pain. It was the third time he has been hit by a pitch this season, and the second in the last two weeks.
That moment sparked an old-school response from Reds radio broadcaster Jeff Brantley, who made it clear he believes the club needs to do a better job looking after one of its rising stars.
"I would say, Tommy (Thrall), as we move along in the career of Sal Stewart, the Reds are going to have to protect him more. You just can't have the opponents knocking down your best RBI guy," Brantely said during Saturday's broadcast.
"I don't care is he's a rookie," he continued. "I don't care if he's brash. He's your teammate, and if they're going to throw that ball in there like that, then somebody on the other team is going to have to pay."
That kind of thinking may not sit well with everyone in today’s game, but it still has plenty of believers. And Brantley’s point was rooted in a baseball culture that used to answer these situations with immediate retaliation.
The source of the hit is not being framed as intentional, and Ashcraft’s intent can’t be judged from the play alone. But Brantley’s larger message was unmistakable: Stewart has become too important to the Reds to keep taking those shots without a response.
He plays with an edge, and that edge clearly gets noticed. At the same time, he’s also producing like a hitter opponents have to respect, which means pitchers are likely to keep testing him inside as they look for ways to get him out.
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