Carlos Rodón made a big mistake and he knows it.
Rodón kicked a bat in anger in the Giants’ dugout after exiting the field in the fifth inning of Tuesday night’s loss to the Diamondbacks. Unfortunately, he did so right in front of teammate Thairo Estrada, who took the bat to the shin and collapsed to the ground. Rodón immediately knew he’d made a mistake and went to check on Estrada, while Wilmer Flores looked on with an expression of “what the hell man?”
Estrada didn’t seem to be injured in any serious way by the incident. He led off the next inning, only to be hit by a pitch.
“Unacceptable action,” Rodón said to reporters postgame. “Hit my teammate. Probably the nicest teammate on our team. Just a selfish action that is unacceptable and cannot happen. I take every amount of it, it cannot happen. I just feel stupid. Really stupid.
“Instantly I just wanted to say sorry to my teammate. If you watch it I kick the bat, and you saw the difference in emotion instantly. I just feel really dumb, you know?”
It’s at least the second outburst Rodón had in the dugout on Tuesday night. Cameras also caught him slamming his glove after giving up a three-run home run in the third inning.
Manager Gabe Kapler said that the Giants are working with Rodón on his temper, which at times this year has gone overboard.
“He feels terrible about it, obviously,” Kapler began about the incident. “You saw that right away, he felt remorse about it. He knows it’s unacceptable. We talked about it after the game and it just can’t happen. It doesn’t matter if it’s Thairo or anybody else, these are his teammates and if he’s not able to maintain control in those situations someone can get hurt. He knows it, we’re working on it, we’re working on ways for him to be in control in those situations.
“Doesn’t mean he’s not going to show emotion. That’s totally fine, that’s part of the game. Being angry about an outing or a specific event in an outing, totally fine. But when teammates and coaches are at risk, it just can’t happen.
“We discussed it, we’re going to work through it, and we’re going to support him through it. As I mentioned he’s full accountable and understands it can’t happen.”
