In a dramatic turn during a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Willson Contreras, first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals, inadvertently hit his hitting coach Brant Brown with his bat after he was ejected from the game. The incident occurred in the bottom of the seventh inning when Contreras, upset over a called third strike, tossed his bat aiming at umpire Stu Scheurwater but instead struck Brown.

Later in the dugout, Contreras threw a bucket of treats onto the field, leading to more interactions that raised eyebrows.

Contreras Bat Throw Incident

Contreras expressed his dissatisfaction regarding strike zone calls, claiming he merely requested uniform calls for both teams. Notably, Jordan Baker, the crew chief, stated that Contreras had been ejected for using ‘vulgar’ language and had made contact with an umpire, which typically leads to sanctions in the league.

The pitch that sparked the controversy was a call on an 0-2 offering from pitcher Yohan Ramírez which had a strike probability calculated at approximately 87.5%.

It’s significant to note that Victor Robles of the Seattle Mariners was recently suspended for a similar incident related to bat throwing.