Willson Contreras hasn’t had the season most fans thought he would after carrying the Cubs through a few months last year. He hasn’t hit a home run since Aug. 1, and on Sunday he obviously thought he broke that drought after driving a ball to deep center field.
Problem was that Contreras didn’t quite get all of it and his pimping of a home run just turned out to look pretty embarrassing, as he barely made it to second base safely.
The Cubs did eventually end up scoring, but that was it, losing the series finale 2-1 to the Reds.
Outside of Kris Bryant, I’d say pretty much every single Cubs player has pimped a home run since Joe Maddon became manager in 2015, but he was upset on Sunday and apparently so was the rest of the team at Contreras.
Maddon was pretty direct and was hard on his catcher.
Maddon on Willson not getting out of the box: Horrible. I didn't like that at all. And that will be addressed. The whole team didn't like that.
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) September 16, 2018
Contreras owned up to the mistake immediately, even apologizing to Cincinnati’s starting pitcher Luis Castillo.
Contreras contrite on reaction after ball off the wall. Said he was "embarrassed" for not running right away and apologized to pitcher Luis Castillo.
— Tony Andracki (@TonyAndracki23) September 16, 2018
It didn’t stop there.
Contreras: What I did was not good for baseball. A lotta people were watching. They're being really hard on me because at first I thought it was gone and I kinda walked and then I started running hard.
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) September 16, 2018
More Contreras: I'm embarrassed about myself. I've apologized to the pitcher and the whole team. I think that's the right thing to do.
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) September 16, 2018
All right, all good and really it’s not a big deal.
Again, basically every player on this team has pimped a ball before and it hasn’t been a problem. And Maddon calling out Contreras isn’t a bad thing either.
If it’s something that’s been discussed before in the clubhouse, which it kind of sounds like it has, maybe(?) then good. Contreras owned up to it and I don’t think there are going to be any hard feelings.
It’s not the first time this has happened. Back in 2016, Javier Baez did the same thing, after pimping the shit out of his Game 1 home run in the NLDS against the Giants, he admired the high blast that luckily landed in the basket, as the wind was howling in at Wrigley Field. In Game 2 of that series, Baez was thrown at second base after once again not running out of box at first.
Difference was the Cubs won that game, had a 2-0 series lead and it wasn’t really a big deal at all.
And guess what, Baez still sometimes pimps hard hit balls, so does Kyle Schwarber, Anthony Rizzo, David Bote and so on. I guess Ben Zobrist just runs right away too, so add him to the no side with Bryant.
Anyway, if Maddon wants to use this to send a message to the clubhouse, great.
Also, it wasn’t a big deal in the game either, because Addison Russell scored anyway and the Cubs couldn’t get another hit to tie the game that inning.
Oh, and you have to be pretty dumb if you let that play make you think that Contreras isn’t one of the most competitive guys in the game.
Saw some really stupid comments, questioning his desire to win. Are kidding me with that shit? Willson Contreras, who spent nearly eight years in the minors, changed position to keep his career going and broke down in tears after making his first All-Star team this year doesn’t have the desire to win?
Just because Contreras didn’t run out of the box doesn’t mean he doesn’t bust his ass. He probably over does it sometimes. Most of the time actually.
At the end of the day it was simply an embarrassing look for Contreras. If the Cubs win that game and/or aren’t in this offensive slump it’s not even a story and everyone just laughs at it.
So, just next time make sure you do get all of it, Willson, and pimp the shit out of it too. Who cares.
