Justin Verlander believes that umpires should consider the way Shane Victorino hangs over the plate before automatically awarding him first base on a hit by pitch.

Victorino has been hit five times in this postseason alone.

"I've seen pitches that he got hit on that were strikes," Verlander said. "So, I mean, I don't think you can worry about that. I think just whoever is the home plate umpire needs to be aware he's up there.

"Anything on the inner half, occasionally he's looking to get hit. He's up there, he's right on top of the plate. And his arms are over the batter's box and over part of the plate. If he doesn't get out of the way, there could be an occasion that it could be a strike and it actually hits him. That's something that I think that those guys [umpires] are aware of.

"But you can't think about not hitting a guy," Verlander said. "You've got to think about executing your pitches and not changing anything because of that. And hopefully, if something like that happens, those guys are on top of it."

According to Major League rule 6.08 (b), umpires have the discretion to call a pitch a strike if the ball hits a batter while in the strike zone.