Phillies

Chase Utley Reportedly Told an Opposing Pitcher to Plunk Him to Prove a Point

By Jim Adair

Published: Feb 13th, 2017 · 1:43 PM EST

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Chase Utley can be described in many ways: Hard-nosed, gritty, and a dozen other stereotypes. “Gamer” is another one. But is he actually a psychological genius? Or a psycho?

Utley recently signed a one-year deal with the Dodgers, who undoubtedly appreciate is veteran leadership. According to Peter Gammons, that leadership showed itself in a very strange way once, with Utley literally taking one for the team:

Coaches tell the story of a game in which the Dodgers had a big lead in the top of the eighth inning when one younger, enthusiastic teammate stole second base, which ticked off the opposition. When Utley got to the plate in the ninth, he told the opposing catcher to have the pitcher drill him. Then his teammate would understand there are consequences for showing up the opposition.

There are two things that could have actually happened here. Here’s the first: Chase Utley feels himself some sort of arbiter of baseball purity, a gatekeeper for integrity, a disciple of the unwritten rules. That’s entirely possible. This is the other option:

Whether it actually happened that way or not, if coaches are telling the story, it might as well be true. So Chase Utley either stood up for the righteous way of the game and put his body on the line to teach the young guys a lesson, or convinced the opposing catcher that this was a totally acceptable thing to do, and got the other team to put him on base for free. Chase is just operating on another level.