Mike Trout is the face of baseball. Three-time MVP. Future Hall of Famer. The kind of generational talent you build an entire sport's marketing campaign around.
So when Seattle Mariners pitcher Bryan Woo threw two pitches that came dangerously close to Trout's head in their recent matchup, it wasn't just a baseball story - it was a player safety story.
And Trout was not pleased.
The video shows it all. First pitch: high and tight, Trout has to bail out. Second pitch: even closer. Trout steps out of the box, looks at Woo, and the frustration is written all over his face.
Look, pitching inside is part of the game. I get it. You've got to establish the inside corner, make hitters uncomfortable, take away that diving-over-the-plate swing. I played this game long enough to know that's just baseball.
But there's pitching inside, and then there's putting a 95-mph fastball near someone's skull. That's where we draw the line.
Mike Trout has been remarkably healthy throughout his career considering how hard he plays. He's avoided the kinds of catastrophic injuries that derailed other superstars. The last thing baseball needs is for its biggest star to take a fastball to the head because a young pitcher lost command.
I'm not saying Woo was throwing at him intentionally. I don't think he was. But intent doesn't matter when you're talking about a pitch that could end a career - or worse.
After the second near-miss, you could see the tension between the benches. Division rivals. Star player nearly getting drilled. That's a recipe for things escalating quickly.
Credit to both sides for keeping it from boiling over. But you could feel the temperature rising.
Baseball has made strides in protecting players - stricter rules on slides, concussion protocols, helmet improvements. But at the end of the day, there's still a hard sphere traveling at 95 miles per hour aimed in the general direction of a human being's head.
