Why is it so wrong for a hitter to watch their HR ball fly out?

Question

Ive notice ryan braun does it a lot and he gets grilled for it.

Answer 1

because everyone gets offended at everything these days

Answer 2

They think its cool or something if i was a picher and a guy hit a homer off me and watched it i would drill the next hitter

Answer 3

Because he is supposed to be a professional ballplayer.  And professionals are supposed to hustle EVERY time they hit the ball, not admire themselves.

Perfect example is yesterday. Johan Santana (Mets) admired his hit, thought it was going to leave the park and it ended up staying in.  He was kept to a single, and had someone been covering first, he would have been thrown out.  If he was hustling, he would ended up in scoring position on second.

Answer 4

i dont see anything wrong either

Answer 5

I have no problem with it but I think the player should make sure it's a homerun first, right Soriano

Answer 6

Brauns does a lot of things and gets away with them.

Answer 7

Because if the ball ends up not going out then the player looks stupid and may end up with a single instead of a double. It is also showboating. I beleive in busting it out of the batters box and hustling to first.

Answer 8

well its not wrong if he knows its going out. soriano hit a ball deep to left-center and was doing the home run trot but it stayed in and he had a double. the next time up soriano hit a ball really deep and he knew he got all of that one so he admired his home run.

Answer 9

I don't think there is anything wrong with it, as long as its surely a home run.

Answer 10

Its not wrong to for a hr hitter to see their ball fly out, it's just some people see it as showmanship- like he's rubbing it in on the opposing team but I personally see nothing wrong with it.

Answer 11

i think its a respect issue.

Answer 12

What about Soriano he did it today to.

Answer 13

Because what if sometimes it isn't a homerun and in drops on the field...I mean if he stares at that then he is only going to get a single...or get out(Rare) when he should of gotten a double or triple

EDIT: Straycat he thought it was a foul not a homerun lol

Answer 14

There's NOTHING wrong with that. Like Kid Rock says "it's not braggin' if you back it up". It can be quite embarrassing if it stays inside the park though.

Answer 15

its not so bad, i remember zambrano throwing a hissy fit over edmonds watching his homerun.  It gets pitchers mad, but its not a big deal if its short.  I think its worse when a player almost walks around the bases.  I saw a pitcher hit a homerun and by the time he got to home he was getting boo'd, like major boo'd.  The announcers timed it and i think it was 42 seconds to get there, which is completely rediculous.

Answer 16

becuase your showing up the pitcher, baseball is about class and when you do something good you dont embaress or show up the other team, im pretty sure the guys who hit the home runs also make mistakes. theres no need for it

Answer 17

I'm fine with it as long as the hitter is sure it's gone...Ryan Howard does it all the time when he knows it's gone.

Answer 18

it's wrong because its showing up the pitcher. hitters are supposed to act like they've done it before. back in the day if someone showed up the pitcher they would get drilled in their next at bat

Answer 19

First of all , it's considered to be showing up the pitcher. As an older fan, I guarantee that any hitter that pulled a move like that against a Gibson, Drysdale or just about any pitcher in that pitched in the 60's or earlier would have been greeted with a fastball in his ear the next time up. And maybe the guy that came up to hit next would get one there as well.

Second  -it's just not smart. Yes, there are times when a player knows the minute he hits it that the ball is going out. But, if you were watching the Brewers game tonight, you saw a great example of a player thinking the ball was gone only to have it come up short. Soriano hit one off the wall leading the game off, and would possibly had been thrown out at second because he nearly walked down the line.

Third - sometimes it's just more professional to simply act like a professional. You know, act like you've simply done your job, and that you've actually done it before, and that you plan on doing it again.