Aaron Boone unhappy after Luke Voit hit in chin with high fastball: 'Sometimes intent doesn't matter'

Thomas Lott

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Aaron Boone unhappy after Luke Voit hit in chin with high fastball: 'Sometimes intent doesn't matter' image

Aaron Boone has had an eventful week. First, he went viral after an epic rant got him ejected from a game Thursday, and on Saturday he was calling out the Rockies for high-and-tight fastballs.

Yankees first baseman Luke Voit left Saturday's game after he was hit in the face with a fastball by Chad Bettis in the fourth inning and Austin Romine and Aaron Judge got some chin music as well. Boone was blunt in his assessment of the Rockies' pitching in New York's 11-5 win.

“Throw the ball over the plate,” he said, via NJ.com.

Up-and-in fastballs are part of the game and an essential pitch when facing off with the Yankees. With the amount of power they have they're going to see a lot of high pitches to keep them from getting their arms extended.

Sometimes pitches get away. There may not have been intent in those pitches, but Boone really doesn't care if there is any intent or not.

"Sometimes intent doesn't matter," Boone said.

Pitchers don't throw inside as much as they have in the past but lots of teams still pitch extensively up in the zone. The Astros are a perfect example of that. With the growth in analytics, many organizations are focusing on pitch tunneling which is just like it sounds. Pitchers throw two different pitches on the same plane and try to trick hitters into thinking a fastball is coming when a changeup or breaking ball actually is.

The Rockies also have a lot of guys like this. Bettis is certainly one of them as are guys like German Marquez and Jon Gray.

And again, sometimes pitches up in the zone just get away. The Yankees though were tired of seeing them near their batters' heads, and DJ LeMahieu, a former Rockie and a current Yankee, did his best to explain the team's frustration.

“I just think after Luke got hit and then Ro almost got hit twice, it’s a long, hot day, and obviously we don’t want to see that,” he said. “I think that would be the reaction a lot of times.”

Thomas Lott