Cowardly Jose Ureña Beans Ronald Acuña

Gutless. I hope the kid isn't out long.

Definitely not accidental.

Yeah. Just found the video. In reading the article there is a lot of evidence of intent. I don’t want to pass judgement 100% because I don’t know Urena, nor his normal demeanor, but I would say that he would need to make one hell of s statement and apology to convince a jury of 12 that he meant only to command the inner half of the plate or even to brush Acuna back.

To make it worse, one can begin to imagine the frustrations of a young pitcher who appeared on the verge of stardom a year ago as he struggles with a 5+ ERA and leads the NL in losses at 3-12 contributing to a mental meltdown that would allow this baseball version of a postal worker shooting up the mail sorting room...

yeah...I have mixed feelings here....and since no Yankee was involved I can be impartial...I remember the era in which the hitter did not want to appear to dig in his cleats at the plate, but would quietly step in and as the pitcher was in his windup shift his feet in place to get a firmer grip....otherwise he would get a fastball to his ear...everyone knew it and there were few guys hit in the head because they were ready to bail....

hitters now dig in, crowd the plate, and swing from the heels....what is a modern pitcher to do to protect his numbers, and by extension, his livelihood?

True that there is a big change to the way things used to be. But those changes came about for a reason. The reasons sometimes had a name. Like Don Zimmer, Ray Chapman, Tony Conigliaro. Lessons were learned about what damage a baseball can do to the player and subsequently the human being that the player is.. So we make and use batting helmets along with various pieces of padding that we allow, and we changed the code of conduct. It's sort of odd, but we all tend to remember only the good parts of our "good old days". It's not just the batter/pitcher relationship, either. There are different rules now for the tag at home plate, and for the amount and type of conduct allowed around second base. It's also not just baseball, either. A quarterback no longer fears the once-dreaded all-out blitz. He's in a little bubble so he doesn't get hurt. 

Overall, it's for the better. I would say that in answer to your query about what the pitcher is to do the only answer is to learn his craft better. Learn how to pitch inside without hitting batters. Use more movement on his pitches and change speeds more effectively. There are certainly pitchers out there that more than just getting by in the new environment. Some of them are dominating just as much as pitchers did in those good old days in spite of the new ways. Urena hit a batter intentionally with the first pitch of the game because that youthful batter was having an unusually good stretch of hitting and like a youthful person he was rejoicing in his moments. Seems like what he was doing was harmless enough. If we get upset at our opponent's success and we want to quell it then we should compete harder in hopes of having our own success and our personal enjoyment of that moment...

What happens when you DO try to move a batter and you hit him? I know I would feel different if it was Judge that got hit.. but I don't see anything wrong with what Urena did. You got a guy constantly hitting leadoff home runs. Your game plan is to pitch him inside... you happen to hit him.. benches clear... it's over.

You would feel differently if it was Judge who was hit? Then why the double standard? That was an obvious attempt to hit Acuna by Urena. He didn't just happen to hit him. He's been denounced by just about everyone across baseball even his own manager Mattingly. Why is it okay to chuck a 97 mph baseball at someone just because they have been good against you? He could have seriously injured him. Makes no sense whatsoever to condone such behavior.