So much attention, rightfully, is focused on the frontier-justice hit by pitch that we might be missing a much bigger problem:

The hit by pitch.

Ultimately, MLB and the Players Association can agree to legislate against the retaliatory hit by pitch with stiffer penalties directed at pitchers deemed to be purposely throwing at hitters. Rules can be written to counter archaic unwritten rules.

But what to do about the ever-increasing total of hit by pitches in general? Plunkings are up for the fourth straight year. There were 1,602 in 2015, and through April the pace is for 2,046 this year. That would be roughly 15 extra hit by pitches incurred per team from 2015 to 2019. So when you see, for example, Robinson Cano hit on the hand twice in 10 days and think: Am I seeing stuff like this more often? The answer is, you bet.

It is now nearly as likely that you will see a player struck in a game as a stolen base.

The root cause is the same: modern analytics.

Data shows risking a steal is generally a bad gamble when the frequency of homers means a player is in scoring position at any base. And the frequency of homers — MLB was on pace to smash that record too through April — is part of the analytic give and take that is leading to more hitters being drilled. Some thoughts:

The number of pitchers used is almost certainly going to be broken for a sixth straight year. April ended with 524 pitchers used. In 1999, there were 585 pitchers used — all season.

Modern teams more liberally use minor league options and the injured list, leading to the need for more available arms. And the numbers had shown employing one big arm after another within a game suffocated offense (at least until this season, when reliever ERA is higher than that of starters for the first time since 1969).

Maybe there were enough arms for a handful of organizations to exploit this strategy. But the idea that each team has 25-plus — and often 30-plus — pitchers in its organization who have developed command and control is ludicrous. The theory has outstripped the number of pitchers qualified to be asked to apply the theory. There are a lot more guys throwing it without a very strong idea of where it is going, and we are seeing that reflected in who is authoring the hit by pitches.

As recently as 2015, relievers were responsible for 35.1 percent of the hit by pitches. Through Monday of 2019, it was 49.7 percent. So pitchers responsible for 40.5 percent of the innings were culpable for nearly half those hit by pitches. We are asking those who don’t know where the ball is going to throw a lot more innings in the major leagues, and the result is “ow.”

2. And the ticket for a reliever to get to the majors is usually extreme velocity. In general, harder means with less control. And where are these extreme velocity pitchers trying to throw the ball?

The analytics produced a phalanx of hitters with launch swings designed to get the ball up (and out). One counter to this has been to try to throw the ball up above the swing and — best of all — up and in. The percentage of fastballs delivered up in the zone has risen each of the last three seasons and had reached 39.8 percent this year. There has been the same climb in fastballs up and in, from 12.8 percent in 2015 to 15.5 percent this year.

So hard throwers who don’t know where the ball is going are being told to throw the ball up and near the body-line of the player. Miss by a few inches and you go from the body-line to the body.

One NL executive said: “We have raised a generation of pitchers to be good North and South, up and down, but they are not nearly as good East and West. A good pitch is up at the catcher’s face mask, and if you can go inside from there, that is even better to widen the plate by making the outside corner tougher for the hitter (because he can’t dive over the plate comfortably to get there). But how many pitchers can hit the face mask consistently and then how many guys can go in from there without it being a real danger?”

3. The other counter to the launch swing is to go below it with breaking balls. And, yep, breaking ball percentages are rising yearly, too — 25.2 percent in 2014 and 31.4 percent this season. And if pitchers can’t command their fastball, what do you think about their ability to tame their breaking pitches, especially since the modern emphasis is on greater and greater spin rate — think of the pitch that barrels downward with more action than ever and strikes players in the feet.

We are in the midst of the greatest period of inaccuracy ever because of these factors. The combination of passed balls/wild pitches is up for the fifth straight year. Plate appearances are ending in a walk were at 9.2 percent, the highest since 2000. So no surprise that hit by pitches are up.

And the general hit by pitch is going to prove far more dangerous to hitters because it cannot be anticipated or legislated against like the retaliatory beaning. And because it is just happening so much more frequently. Think about the implications of 15 more players per team being hit by a pitch now than five years ago. Aaron Judge was lost for seven weeks last year when hit by a pitch. He will not be the last star lost to a growing issue.