St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez drew some unneeded attention to himself when he flipped his bat behind him in disgust and it flew about 20 feet high while grounding out during Sunday's game in Milwaukee.
It happened in the top of the third just as Martinez hit a ground ball to second base. Martinez was frustrated with the easy out and thought nothing of it as he flipped the bat behind him, but he ended up tossing it so high that it would have made Yasiel Puig jealous.
The bat flew over the head of home plate umpire Jeff Nelson, who was only 10 feet behind Martinez when he flipped the bat. Nelson was clearly startled as he realized how lucky he was not to have been hit by the bat, and he stared at Martinez wondering what he was thinking. First base umpire Laz Diaz had some words for Martinez after he finished jogging to first base.
After Martinez came back to the Cardinals dugout, manager Mike Matheny pulled him aside and made it clear that this behavior was unacceptable. The message was received, as before Martinez came out to the mound to pitch the bottom of the inning, he went straight to Nelson and Diaz to offer an apology.
This is exactly why they need to put in rules to ban bat flipping from the game. The umpire should have the right to call the batter out immediately as soon as the bat is flipped. If it's not acceptable in Little League, it shouldn't be allowed in the majors.
Video via MLB.
Moonlighting as a blogger to pursue my interest and enjoyment of sports. Former high school and Division I athlete (now a "retired" family man) that loves watching and discussing all sports. Follow me on Twitter (@HoldoutSports) and like Holdout Sports on Facebook.
