Can we now safely say that throwing at batters and instigating fights with opponents appears to be a pattern with Yordano Ventura?
For the third consecutive start, the Royals pitcher taunted an opposing batter which resulted in both dugouts emptying onto the field. On Thursday night against the White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field, a brawl broke out. Tensions were already high between the two AL Central rivals (notably among the White Sox’s Jeff Samardzija and Royals’ Lorenzo Cain), but Ventura ignited the blaze by essentially dropping a match on the gasoline.
The ugliness ensued in the bottom of the seventh when Adam Eaton hit a groundball back to Ventura. Rather than simply turn and throw the ball to first base, the right-hander felt the need to express himself profanely (the MLB.com video actually blurred Ventura’s mouth out, apparetly for all the lip-readers among us) to the White Sox center fielder. Eaton took exception to whatever Ventura said, and that’s when it all went down.
Is it even necessary to point out that Ventura’s behavior was completely asinine? He won that at-bat. He got Eaton to hit a groundball back to him, thus resulting in an out. Job done. Tied score preserved. Inning over. Everyone could see that Ventura accomplished his objective. Yet he couldn’t just leave it there. He had to add a little flourish and let Eaton know that he won.
Watch the video again and check out Eric Hosmer’s reaction as he catches the toss from Ventura. You can see it on his face: “Oh, no. What are you doing, man?” He immediately ran to Ventura’s defense and held Eaton back from fighting him because he’s a good teammate. And maybe he felt he could stop the situation from escalating.
But if not for Ventura’s need to rub Eaton’s face in that groundball out, everyone would have gone back to the dugout and carried on with their business. Instead, a fight broke out and five players (Ventura among them — obviously) were ejected. What a bunch of sound and fury signifying nothing.
Oh, and I neglected to mention that tensions began in the fourth inning when Ventura hit Jose Abreu. Did the pitch get away from Ventura? If you watch his body language immediately afterwards, he seemed to be mad at himself for missing with his pitch and putting Abreu on base. But maybe that was an act. Maybe Ventura was trying to brush back a hitter who’s been successful versus the Royals this season (.333 average, 1.178 OPS) and against him going back to last season (.286 average, 1.302 OPS).
Or maybe Ventura is an immature hothead who can’t control his emotions right now and doesn’t deal with adversity very well. Evidently, no one is supposed to get a hit against him. What did Mike Trout do to Ventura on April 12, other than have the apparent audacity to hit a single off him and come around to score on a double? Was Trout supposed to stop at third base?
:KANSAS CITY, MO – APRIL 18: Brett Lawrie #15 of the Oakland Athletics walks toward first base after being hit by a pitch by pitcher Yordano Ventura #30 of the Kansas City Royals during the 4th inning of the game against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium on April 18, 2015 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
When Ventura hit Oakland’s Brett Lawrie with a pitch on April 18, at least you could argue that he was retaliating for Lawrie sliding into Alcides Escobar at second base in the previous game. But that argument doesn’t have much plausibility, considering Ventura had already faced Lawrie earlier in the game and didn’t throw at him. It’s only after Ventura fell behind 5-0 and gave up a three-run homer to Josh Reddick in the previous at-bat did he then decide to plunk Lawrie. At that point, he looks like a guy mad that he served up a home run and the game wasn’t going in his favor.
That’s not baseball. Nor is what happened Thursday night in Chicago. I’ll be the first to step up and complain over how traditionalists and prudes try to stamp down any expressions of emotion or enthusiasm on the baseball field, acting as if baseball is supposed to be played by robots not allowed to have any fun. But this is different. This isn’t just showing too much excitement or showing up the opponent. This is mean-spirited taunting and throwing an object directly at someone that could cause a serious injury.
Clearly, MLB should have suspended Ventura for throwing at Lawrie last week. But rather than send a message that his behavior was unacceptable and give him an opportunity to simmer down, Ventura was allowed to make his next start and once again touched off a bench-clearing rumble that could have resulted in someone getting seriously hurt.
MLB needs to make a statement about that with a penalty beyond the wrist slap of a five-game suspension that would only prevent Ventura from making one start. If baseball doesn’t want these sorts of incidents happening on a regular basis, if the sport doesn’t want to attract national headlines for fights breaking out, instead of getting attention for athletic achievements, competitive ballgames and milestones being reached, then an example needs to be made.
Maybe the Royals need to take a proactive role here too. Teammates, coaches and executives should draw a line here. Kansas City has had a chip on its shoulder about last season’s success being overlooked and viewed as a fluke. Many picked the team to finish fourth in the AL Central. That’s obviously given the Royals a motivation and edge which has propelled them to the best record in the AL (12-4) going into the weekend. Maybe that sort of fire is what Ventura needs to succeed as well.
But instead of talking about what a talented team the Royals are, and what a promising pitcher Ventura is, we’re talking about beanballs, taunts and brawls. If instigating fights, taunting opponents and detracting from the actual game is what the Royals need to win, then something has to be done. If opposing teams defeat the Royals, showing that those tactics no longer work, that would certainly be one form of discouragement. But MLB can’t let this get to the point where other clubs feel they have to resort to the same behavior in order to win. No one wins there.
