Delmon Young loses it

[DirtyKash]

From Rotoworld (we need video of this):

After being ejected following a called strike three and an argument, Triple-A Durham's Delmon Young threw a bat into the chest of the home plate umpire in Wednesday night's game.
If this was as bad as it sounds, Young should be facing a long-term suspension. It's a shame to see such behavior from the player universally recognized as baseball's best prospect. Apr. 26 - 8:48 pm et

[General]

Hold it, ump!

[rockin500]

yikes. did the umpire rip on his mama or something in addition to the ejection?

[love_that_reefer]

Young should be suspended for at least a month. ****ing classless!

[redsfan28]

What's next... a player beating the ump with the bat? Suspend him for the year. Thats bullcrap!

[DirtyKash]

http://devilrays.mostvaluablenetwork...h-my-own-eyes/

In the first inning, with Lester pitching for Pawtucket, Delmon was called out on strikes, caught looking on a fastball that might — or might not — have nipped the outside corner. In any case, Delmon disagreed with the umpire. The ump punched him out, and Young just froze in the batter’s box, letting the bat rest on his shoulder. He must’ve held that pose for a good 10 seconds.

At that point, Delmon was daring the ump to toss him. But, despite being shown up, the ump was pretty patient, I thought. He let Delmon stand there and pout. I don’t what words, if any passed between them. I couldn’t see Delmon’s mouth, and the ump of course was wearing a facemask. The crowd, as is typical, was calling for the ump to throw him out of the game.

But obviously something was said between Young and the umpire at some point, because as soon as Delmon finally broke camp and headed back towards the dugout, the umpire tossed him.

And then, somewhere in Tampa, the earth trembled.

Delmon, now about 5 steps out of the batter’s box, spun in stride and tossed his bat at the homeplate umpire, hitting him in the legs. Having done that, Delmon continued the spin and proceeded into the dugout, never looking back. Another umpire, obviously fearing the worst, rushed from first base to get between Delmon & the homeplate ump, but it was wasted effort on his part. Delmon was going, going, gone.

There wasn’t a big crowd at the game. It’s still pretty cool around here this time of the year. It got down into the low 40’s after dark tonight, and even being well-dressed in multiple layers of clothing, I was cold in the late innings. Cold kills attendance numbers.

Even so, after a few moments of silence & disbelief, the crowd rained down a serenade of derision on Delmon as he departed. I hafta say, their anger was evident: the volume was worthy of a crowd several times the size of the crowd at this game.

Now I want you all to understand exactly what happened here. I saw it was a toss. He tossed the bat. He didn’t hurl it. He didn’t exactly throw it. He didn’t fling it. He certainly didn’t draw back and take a full cut at the umpire. It wasn’t a violent act — as for example, took place once before in Pawtucket, when then-PawSock Izzy Alcantara karate-kicked an opposing catcher after being hit by a pitch, an ugly incident of which you can watch a video here. No, it wasn’t like that. It wasn’t intended to cause harm, what Delmon did. But it was deliberate. It was calculated. And, although not violent, it was certainly malicious.

So as it turns out, Rays fans, we have a headcase down at Durham. He’s a problem child, and he’s ours to keep because he’s too talented to give up. He’s a top prospect and an incredible athlete, truly a gifted young man, your proverbial 5-tool player. But he’s developing a reputation for being a self-important jerk, and he has a track record of being rash & intemperate. And now, as some have feared all along, he has finally gone too far.

And no, his name is not Elijah Dukes. His name is Delmon Young. And he is a headcase.

Inexcusable. And unmistakable. There was no possibility of misinterpretation about what I saw this evening, as perhaps might have been the case if Delmon had engaged in a heated, face-to-face argument with the umpire and accidentally bumped chests with him. Not a chance. Delmon did it, and he meant to do it. And there’s just no excuse for that. You can charge the mound. It’ll get you suspended, but you can do it. But you don’t touch the ump. It’s the last & greatest rule of them. You never touch the ump.

And you never, under any circumstance, throw your bat at him.

It’s unheard of.

Congratulations, Rays fans. We’ve got the best young prospect in all of baseball in our minor leagues. We’ve also got the biggest asshole in all of baseball in our minor leagues, and he’s the same guy.

[McKain]

Wow, that guy is a retard.

[MarinersFan87]

Josh Hamilton, Elijah Dukes, and now Delmon Young.

This is why those GM's in the NFL take the interviews and such very seriously.

[McKain]

Interviews really wouldn't have done a damned thing with Hamilton, seeing as he'd probably be burning up the majors right now if he weren't a junkie.

Delmon so far has done two "attitude based problems" I can think of, complaining about not being called up or paid or whatever it was and throwing a bat and it hitting a guy, and neither of those are character traits so much, so I doubt interviews would help show the problems there, either.

It probably would have helped with Dukes, though I'm uncertain as to how much in-depth player interviewing actually tells.

[Kingdom]

hard to compare a once hardcore drug addict to a guy who had a blow up moment

young's going to still have a future regardless of what punishment happens. he swings a nice bat and runs well. and tampa is a bad franchise. he'll be in the majors soon enough. professional sports don't dump athletes like that. otherwise st. louis rams would have killed leonard little by now.

[MarinersFan87]

Hamilton is a seperate case, he wouldn't be tearing up the minors, he'd be one of the best players in baseball. The drugs have probably been a problem for a while, it reeks of Todd Marinovich, Josh's dad was a nut too, but I'm sure the drugs got worse once he got that phat pay check.

As for Dukes and Delmon, it's only going to be a problem if they blow up and start getting 20 game suspensions repeatedly, I know I'd take the both of them on my team.

[Kingdom]

What did Dukes do BTW? I only know the guy from OOTP, lol.

[McKain]

Dukes has been arrested for assault, has been forced to take anger management courses, tons of on-the-field arguments and some ejections.

[Kingdom]

Well.

Must be something in that Floridian water. Look what happened to the marlins' Jeff Allison.

[love_that_reefer]

Young has shown an extremely bad attitude which is a character trait.