Mariners hit new low with injury in batting practice

BEND, Ore. - I specialize in making mountains out of molehills.

It’s been a constant theme throughout my career.

But this time it’s different. Completely different.

The Mariners have flipped the old saying around by trying to make a molehill out of a mountain.

And it’s not just any mountain, it’s Rainier-sized, maybe even Everest-sized.

But we shouldn’t be surprised. We’re talking about the Mariners after all. They’ve been known to be a bumbling baseball organization from time to time, and this time they’ve maybe even outdone themselves.

What happened Saturday at T-Mobile Park might be one of the biggest reasons why they don’t make the playoffs if they don’t make the playoffs.

At first all we heard was that Brendan Donovan was a late scratch from Saturday’s game against the Cubs.

We wondered if he suffered a relapse with a strained groin that caused him to miss most of the season.

We said out loud: “Geez, this guy sure seems injury prone, what is it now?”

After the game, manager Dan Wilson revealed that Donovan “got hit pretty good” in the head during batting practice.

Wilson also admitted he did not fully understand all of the circumstances yet.

Let me ask you something. If you’re the manager of a major league team who suddenly has an injured player who is vitally important to your team’s success, don’t you think you’d have the details before you met with curious reporters after the game?

I sure as hell would.

We’re talking about a player who had gone 10-for-24 in his last six games and in one game alone had three two-out RBI singles for a team that struggles with runners in scoring position.

The next day we didn’t find out much more about the incident but heard that Donovan had been placed on the seven-day concussion list.

So we’re still left in the dark as to how a batting practice injury like this could happen.

Finally on Monday, team president Jerry Dipoto let his sidekick, Justin Hollander, speak to reporters and this is what we heard from the Mariners’ general manager:

“Freak accident…and just a throw got away and hit him in the head. It’s no one’s fault. It happens.”

Freak accident? OK

But who did the throw get away from?

And whattaya mean, it’s no one’s fault? It’s the fault of the guy who threw the ball, isn’t it?

At some point Sunday, maybe from Hollander, we learned that this wasn’t the kind of batting practice we see before games. It was a different kind of batting practice, called a “challenge batting practice” in which pitches are thrown from 45 feet instead of 60 feet, 6 inches.

We also learned from Adam Jude’s Seattle Times story that pitches in challenge batting practice are thrown with “max effort.”

And in that story, we find out that most afternoons a handful of players take part in these challenge BP’s with assistant pitching coach Danny Farquhar throwing the pitches.

Just like in regular BP, they don’t wear helmets in challenge BP’s for reasons unknown.

I say reasons unknown because there are many good reasons why they should wear helmets in challenge batting practices.

Why?

I’m glad you asked.