Blue Jays’ Josh Donaldson Criticizes MLB For Not Protecting Players Enough

Josh Donaldson scored his 11th home run of the season in the Toronto Blue Jays‘ 3-1 road victory over the Minnesota Twins on Sunday.

Blue Jays’ Josh Donaldson Criticizes MLB For Not Protecting Players Enough

It came in the first inning, and after rounding out the bases, Donaldson gave the Twins dugout a sharp glare.

Four innings later, Phil Hughes, the Twins’ starter, threw consecutive pitches at Donaldson– one that nearly hit him in the gut, and another that flew behind him.

The third baseman was understandably upset with the pair of pitches that were thrown nowhere near the plate. He complained to the umpire before Blue Jays manager John Gibbons came out and got ejected for the fourth time this season.

“I was asking, ‘Hey, that’s twice now. What are we doing?'” Donaldson said via AL.com. “He should throw him out of the game. You saw both pitches. The first one almost hit me in my gut. And the second one almost hit me in the back. It went behind me.”

Hughes was not removed for throwing at Donaldson twice, and the Toronto slugger criticizes Major League Baseball, saying the league should protect hitters more and do away with the ‘beanball culture’ that’s taken over the sport.

“They say they’re trying to protect players,” Donaldson told reporters after the game. “They make a rule that says you can’t slide hard into second base. They make a rule to protect the catchers on slides into home. But when you throw a ball at somebody, nothing’s done about it. My manager comes out to ask what’s going on, and he gets ejected for it. That’s what happens.

Donaldson then continued:

“I just don’t get the point. I don’t get what baseball’s trying to prove. If I’m a young kid watching these games, why would I want to play baseball? Why? If I do something well or if somebody doesn’t like something that I do, it’s, ‘Oh, well, I’m going to throw at you now.’ It doesn’t make sense. It just doesn’t make sense to me.”

The slugger was ejected from a game just one day earlier.

Donaldson has a point: MLB doesn’t often go far enough to protect hitters. Pitchers aren’t typically suspended for throwing at batters, unless it leads to a benches-clearing, punch-throwing brawl as it did between the Blue Jays and Rangers. Even then, the pitcher (Matt Bush) only received a one-game suspension, compared to eight for Rougned Odor. That’s not to say hitting a batter is the same as punching a baserunner, but suspensions could be handed out more generously by MLB.

TORONTO, CANADA – APRIL 24: Josh Donaldson #20 of the Toronto Blue Jays races around first base as he hits a double in the third inning during MLB game action against the Oakland Athletics on April 24, 2016 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)