St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Willson Contreras on Friday began serving a four-game suspension for his actions during the Aug. 25 game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch Stadium. Contreras was originally suspended six games and fined an undisclosed amount by Major League Baseball, but the suspension was reduced to four games on appeal. As such, Contreras will miss the Cardinals’ entire three-game weekend home series against the Giants and also Monday’s series opener against the Mariners.
During the incident, Contreras inadvertently struck hitting coach Brant Brown with his bat after being ejected from the Cardinals’ eventual 7-6 win over the Pirates on Aug. 25. Contreras, who was tossed during the bottom of the seventh inning of that game after arguing balls and strikes, appeared to toss his bat toward first-base umpire Stu Scheurwater, who had intervened in an attempt to diffuse the situation. Instead, it struck Brown on the upper body.
Contreras would later throw a bucket of treats on the field after heading into the dugout. Take a look:
Crew chief Jordan Baker told the Belleville News-Democrat that Contreras was ejected for using “vulgar” language and that he made contact with an ump — a no-no in the league’s eyes. Contreras denied that second part, and claimed that he simply requested the same strike-zone calls for both teams.
“I don’t think he had any reason to throw me out,” Contreras told reporters, including the Athletic, after the game. “I didn’t argue any pitch in any at-bat. The only thing I said was, ‘Call the pitches for both sides, because you’re missing for us.’
“I turned around, he threw me out, he had no reason for it. Apparently he heard something that I said, but I didn’t say that.”
The pitch that Contreras took issue with was an 0-2 offering from Pirates right-hander Yohan Ramírez. Home-plate umpire Derek Thomas rung up Contreras, and rightly so: said pitch had a called strike probability of 87.5%, according to TruMedia’s calculations. Perhaps Contreras was steamed at himself or at another call that happened while he was behind the dish. Whatever the case, none of the calls that went against him as a hitter on Monday were egregious.
Contreras, 33, this season is batting .254/.338/.448 (119 OPS+) with a team-leading 20 home runs and 78 runs batted in over the course of 121 games. His contributions were estimated to have been worth 2.3 Wins Above Replacement, according to the calculations hosted at Baseball Reference.
It’s worth noting that Contreras is the second player entangled in a bat-throwing incident in recent weeks. Seattle Mariners outfielder Victor Robles was suspended for 10 games after throwing his bat at a pitcher during a rehab game.