St. Louis Cardinals designated hitter Willson Contreras has been suspended for six games following his outburst against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday, the league announced. Contreras is set to appeal the suspension.
After striking out looking on a ball that zipped across the middle of the plate, Contreras began to walk toward the Cardinals’ dugout before he turned back to have a talk with umpire Derek Thomas.
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From there, the exchange got heated, and Cardinals coaches came out to calm Contreras while pulling him away from Thomas. Contreras was quickly ejected, but he wasn’t finished. He went on to toss his bat toward the field of play and accidentally struck one of his own coaches in the face. He then proceeded to throw a bucket of candy on the field, which had to be cleaned up by Cardinals staffers.
Contreras said after the game that he wasn’t sure why he was actually thrown out of the contest, though he admitted that he “struck out on a good pitch,” and he apologized to his coach for the bat throw.
“I was surprised because [the umpire] threw me out for nothing,” Contreras said.
The suspension handed down by MLB feels like it’s two-fold. Showing up umpires (or any league official) is always a no-no. If a player or manager acts too aggressively or says anything disparaging about an umpire, some type of discipline is likely to follow.
Another factor in Contreras’ case is the bat toss, which struck one of his coaches. While it was clearly accidental, the coach — or anyone else in the vicinity — could’ve been seriously injured. Once that bat left Contreras’ hand, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that a suspension would follow.
Contreras is batting .261 this season (three points above his career average) with 19 home runs and 72 RBI, which is a career high. His bat will be missed in the lineup for fourth-place St. Louis, which is 65-67 this season.
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