Atlanta Braves: Kevin Gausman gets suspended, MLB continues to get it wrong

Major League Baseball decided to suspend Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Kevin Gausman five games after intentionally throwing at Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Urena last Friday.

The Atlanta Braves felt they needed to police this matter with Urena themselves, and not only did Kevin Gausman not hit him, but now he’s getting pretty much the same suspension as Urena got for plunking Ronald Acuna Jr.

I was not part of the Tomahawk Take staff last season when Jose Urena performed that despicable act of plunking Acuna simply because he was torching the Marlins.

Now that I am part of the Tomahawk Take team and have a platform to express my opinion on the matter, get ready MLB, because this won’t be pretty.

First, let me start by saying that I have changed my tone a lot over the years. Growing up I was all for players policing the game. But as the game and our culture has evolved, I understand that hurling 95-plus MPH baseballs at someone is not cool.

Especially in today’s game where we have a bunch of throwers and not pitchers. Meaning, guys just rear back and throw the baseball as hard as they can and don’t know how to locate their pitches.

That can be very dangerous when trying to hit someone.

That’s why I am OK with Gausman being suspended, because he did throw the ball with the intent to hit someone, and that is not OK in today’s game.

But here is my issue — if Major League Baseball isn’t going to step up and start handing out a real punishment to these pitchers, then the players are left with no choice but to police the game themselves.

Last season when Urena plunked Acuna, MLB had the perfect scenario to end this beanball nonsense forever.

The reason it was the perfect situation is because you have a young superstar in Acuna who was bringing a lot of positive attention to the game, something that is great for MLB.

And then you have Urena who hits him, and nearly injures him, simply because he didn’t like the fact that Ronald was hitting baseballs over the fence on a nightly basis against his team.

It was clear to everyone — except the umpires who took 10 minutes before finally ejecting Urena — and MLB could have nipped it in the bud right there.

You have a clear villain of MLB in Urena who only hurt the game of baseball with this disgusting act, and a clear hero in Acuna.

If MLB comes out and suspends Urena 60 games without pay, this matter is put to bed right there. And not just this matter, it would deter other pitchers in baseball from throwing at a hitter again.

But instead, MLB takes the coward’s way out and gives Urena a slap on the wrist of six games — just enough to miss one start.

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It will never happen, but if I ever get a sit-down interview with Rob Manfred or Joe Torre my first question will be, “Why didn’t you put an end to this nonsense when you had the perfect chance to do so.?”

Maybe they don’t want to end the nonsense, maybe they think it’s good for the game to allow players to police themselves.

One thing is for sure, until they start giving out real penalties for this trash, it will continue to happen.

Gausman will likely drop his appeal on Tuesday and be ready to pitch again on Sunday — no real damage done.

But don’t lose sight of the fact that Major League Baseball missed a perfect opportunity to put an end to this forever last year, and they failed miserably.