Washington Nationals TV analyst Kevin Frandsen took an unwarranted shot at the New York Mets and Pete Alonso, and WFAN’s Boomer Esiason didn’t take kindly to it.
The Mets have been hit by a record 110 pitches this season and still have six more games to add to their total. Throughout the season, manager Buck Showalter has been frustrated by the astounding rate at which his players have been hit by pitches, and those frustrations have been highlighted by Mets’ TV network SNY.
Earlier this week, Nationals pitcher Cory Abbot hit Atlanta Braves star Austin Riley on his elbow pad with a pitch, prompting MASN’s Frandsen to go on a completely uncalled for rant against the Mets. Frandsen took shots at Showalter and Mets’ All-Star Pete Alonso, who twice this season, has taken fastballs to his head.
“Completely different from Pete Alonso, right?” Frandsen said of Riley’s reaction to getting hit in the elbow. “Austin Riley gets smoked right there and doesn’t really make a big deal out of it
“Where’s Snit [Braves manager Brian Snitker] at? Is Snit at the top step looking at him like, ‘Why’d you throw at my guy?’” Frandsen continued in a strange high-pitched voice meant to mock Showalter. “Can’t pitch at Pete. He wears all the body armor in the world and he’s always complaining.”
After WFAN morning show update anchor Jerry Recco played the audio from Frandsen for hosts Boomer Esiason and Gregg Giannotti, the former NFL MVP was enraged.
“I’ll tell ya what, I’m taking receipts on this one, damn straight,” Esiason (seen above) said with disgust. “And by the way, the Mets broke a record for being hit this year…so shut your piehole!”
The Mets are scheduled to close out their season with a three-game series against Washington next week. According to Esiason, the Mets should consider retaliation against Frandsen by sending a baseball into the Nationals’ broadcast booth. A rogue pitch directed toward Frandsen may seem too egregious, but note to Pete Alonso, we have seen a fair amount of foul balls enter the broadcast booth this season.
Frandsen, a former utility player, was hit by pitches 36 times in his nine-year MLB career, including 11 in one season. That’s a lot, considering he never had 300 plate appearances in a year and only reached 1,363 plate appearances overall. (But it doesn’t come close to Derek Dietrich’s rate record of 93 HBP in 2,132 MLB PA.)
Alonso has been hit by 12 pitches this season, while his teammate Mark Canha leads the league with 26. On the other side, the Nationals have hit players 73 times through Wednesday’s games, tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers for fifth in MLB. The Cincinnati Reds broke the all-time MLB record earlier this year by hitting 99 batters, and their total is now up to 105.
