Mike Morse Jeff Samardzija

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):

Here’s another angle of the whole thing:

And in slow motion:

Oh, and Samardzija hit Strickland too:

Now, Morse has been placed on the seven-day DL, and replacement Kelby Tomlinson has been called up:

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]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.