It turns out that the biggest absence from Monday’s MLB fight between Washington Nationals’ Bryce Harper and the San Francisco Giants’ Hunter Strickland may not be either player. Strickland was suspended for six games for beaning and later punching Harper, who was in turn suspended for four games for storming the mound, throwing his helmet, and punching Strickland. However, the most severe consequences may have come for Giants’ outfielder Mike Morse, who was hit heavily with teammate Jeff Samardzija in the ensuing bench-clearing brawl. Morse was later placed on the seven-day disabled list with a concussion, so he could be out longer than either of the suspended players. Here’s video (Morse is #38):
Lost among all the Bryce Harper and Buster Posey craziness is the fact that Jeff Samardzija absolutely BODIED his own teammate. pic.twitter.com/ZitREUrDVT
— 12up (@12upSport) May 30, 2017
Here’s another angle of the whole thing:
The reverse angle of Bryce Harper poorly throwing his helmet & Jeff Samardzija flashing back to his days as a TE at Notre Dame is hilarious pic.twitter.com/6U50To7gIV
— Nick Breezus ? (@NickBrownHD) May 29, 2017
And in slow motion:
The slow motion version of the brawl is pure gold pic.twitter.com/LJF04B73CW
— Kent (@RealKentMurphy) May 29, 2017
Oh, and Samardzija hit Strickland too:
Underrated aspect of Jeff Samardzija and Michael Morse colliding here is Samardzija actually punching Hunter Strickland while doing so. pic.twitter.com/88iKvXQto1
— Justin Russo (@FlyByKnite) May 30, 2017
Now, Morse has been placed on the seven-day DL, and replacement Kelby Tomlinson has been called up:
Giants place Michael Morse on seven-day concussion DL — a day after he collided with Jeff Samardzija — and called up Kelby Tomlinson.
— John Shea (@JohnSheaHey) May 31, 2017
Samardzija’s spoken recently about how he’s happy he pursued a professional baseball career instead of football (he was a star receiver at Notre Dame) thanks to the lessened frequency of violent collisions and long-term health consequences. He still managed to be involved in one Monday, though, and while he’s apparently okay, Morse wasn’t as lucky. Hopefully Morse will be able to heal and return before too long. But this does help to support the case Giants’ catcher Buster Posey (who was on the DL with a concussion last month) made for not getting involved in these kinds of brawls:
“After it happened, I kind of saw Harper’s point. Next thing you know, he’s going after him,” Posey said. “Those are some big guys tumbling around on the ground.”
“You see, Mike Morse is about as big as they come, and he was getting knocked around like a pinball. So, it’s a little dangerous to get in there sometimes.”
It sure is, as Morse found out here.
[John Shea on Twitter]