The St. Louis Cardinals’ Willson Contreras, who plays first base, has been handed a six-game suspension along with an unspecified financial penalty for his conduct during Monday’s clash with the Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch Stadium, as communicated by Major League Baseball on Tuesday. Contreras is challenging this decision, which allows him to participate until his appeal is addressed.
Contreras inadvertently made contact with hitting instructor Brant Brown using his bat after being removed from the Cardinals’ victory over the Pirates on Monday night (box score). Contreras, who was ejected in the seventh inning’s latter half for disputing ball and strike calls, seemed to direct his bat in the direction of first-base umpire Stu Scheurwater, who stepped in to try and resolve the situation. The bat instead struck Brown on his upper body.
Subsequently, Contreras threw a container of snacks onto the playing surface after retreating to the dugout. Have a look:
Crew leader Jordan Baker informed the Belleville News-Democrat that Contreras was expelled for employing “offensive” language and that he physically interacted with an umpire — which is prohibited by league regulations. Contreras refuted the latter accusation, asserting that he only asked for consistent strike-zone rulings for both competing teams.
“I don’t believe he was justified in ejecting me,” Contreras conveyed to reporters, including those from the Athletic, following the game. “I didn’t contest any specific pitch during any of my plate appearances. All I said was, ‘Apply the same strike-zone standards to both teams, because you’re missing calls for us.’
“I turned around, and he ejected me without a valid reason. Apparently, he misconstrued something I said, but I did not say what he thought.”
The particular pitch that Contreras disagreed with was an 0-2 offering delivered by Pirates right-handed pitcher Yohan Ramírez. Home-plate official Derek Thomas called Contreras out on strikes, a call that was arguably correct: the pitch had an 87.5% probability of being called a strike, according to TruMedia’s data. It is possible that Contreras was frustrated with himself or with a previous call made when he was behind home plate. Irrespective of the reason, none of the calls against him as a batter on Monday appeared clearly incorrect.
Contreras, aged 33, started Tuesday with a batting record of .261/.344/.458 (124 OPS+), including 19 home runs and 72 RBIs over 121 games played. His estimated contribution to the team was approximately 2.2 Wins Above Replacement, as calculated by Baseball Reference.
Notably, Contreras is the second athlete involved in a bat-throwing episode recently. Seattle Mariners outfielder Victor Robles was given a 10-game suspension for throwing his bat in the direction of a pitcher during a rehabilitation game. Robles, who must fulfill his suspension at the major-league level, is allowed to play while his appeal is being processed.
