Devil Rays prospect throws bat at plate umpire
 

PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- Durham Bulls outfielder Delmon Young threw a bat into the chest of the home plate umpire after being called out on strikes in the first inning of Wednesday night's game at Pawtucket.

Young argued with the umpire after taking a third strike on a 1-and-2 pitch. The umpire ejected Young, who then threw his bat and hit the umpire in the chest.

Replacement umpires have been working all minor league games this season because the regular umpires are on strike. Bill Wanless, a spokesman for the Pawtucket Red Sox, said minor league teams are not releasing the names of umpires while the regulars are on strike.

Young, 20, is the younger brother of Detroit Tigers outfielder Dmitri Young. He was voted the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' minor league player of the year last season and the 2005 minor league player of the year by Baseball America.

The Devils Rays selected Young with the first overall pick in the 2003 amateur draft.

So how many games does he get for this one? 25? 50?

Dammmn... and he's their top prospect.

http://redsoxminors.mostvaluablenetw...bat-at-umpire/

You have to wonder if Young is going to lose the entire season. This is just completely unacceptible.

No Delmon, your supposed to swing the bat at the pitch over the plate not at the umpire's chest.

Agreed.

Although in reading that article I don't know if the contact was intentional. He threw the bat, which he shouldn't have done, but it doesn't look like they were jaw-to-jaw and he threw it at the umpire.

I'd say minimum 25-50, but as you say I wouldn't be surprised to see him lose a season.

The Devil Rays have the worst luck EVER!

I dont think he will lose the whole season, or even half the season.
I would put the max at about 25 games.

Not trying to argue either way but I dont see the punishment being extremely severe.

if there's ever a player that should be banned from baseball for life, it's this worthless piece of shit.

I'll be disappointed if he isn't suspended for at least the season. Terrible disrespect for the umpire not to mention potentially dangerous.

I think he should spend some time in jail.

Aside from what everyone wants to happen, what do people think WILL happen?

My guess is a suspension in the range of 30-40 games.

A pile of pitchers with last names like Stodolka, Griffin, George, Snyder, Reichert, Rosado, Austin, et al, would beg to differ ;)

SI

Straight to the gallows with 'im.

“The closest thing I can think of is the Izzy Alcanatra incident [where the one-time Red Sox prospect drop-kicked Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons catcher Jeremy Salazar before charging the mound to go after Blas Cedeno and drew a six-game suspension and a hefty fine], but never to an umpire,” :) hxxp://youtube.com/watch?v=qVg48ADCL10&search=baseball%20fight #4

Bert Campaneris threw a bat at a pitcher 35 years ago, so I don't know if that helps.

I think you're looking for the Barry Bonds thread, Mr. President.

The way they were describing the incident it sounded like he was yelling with the bat in his hand, made some wild flail with his arm and smacked the umpire with the bat. But there was no video of the incident with the story so who knows.

From http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/a...=.jsp&c_id=mlb


I'd say kicked for the rest of the season sounds about right in terms of punishment fitting the crime. The only comparable incident that comes to mind is the infamous Latrell Sprewell, who lost most of a season if I recall...

What kind of psycho do you have to be to do something like that? I mean, I guess I can kind of understand a split second thing where you didn't realize what you were doing - but this guy throws a bat at an umpire more than 30 seconds after the call is made? When he went back to the duggout, was he thinking, "ya, that'll show him".

From the "underhand flip" 'without much force', I foresee less than a full season - 30-50 games sounds right.

10 games - at most. Guaranteed.

You're kidding, right?

That's more comparable to Izzy, or Carl Everett a few years ago, or even Roberto Alomar? Attacking and choking your own coach during practice compares to this?

I see wrestlers shove and strike refs all the time and the worse they get is a disqualification for their match.

The closest example I can think of is Orlando Brown shoving that ref and getting suspended indefinitely. And he at least had some justification. I'm pretty sure Young's season is over.

he should be dragged through a trough of urine and then given a whip round.

I remember striking out when I was a kid and trying to fling the bat into the ground, but it slipped and instead I helicoptored it into my bench and almost killed a few kids.

Good times.

Guessing? 25 games.

Is there no video of the incident?

I have zero tolerance for physical abuse of the umpires...severity of the "attack" doesn't matter. I would toss the guy for the season to make it known that this isn't even a little bit ok.

Yeah, it does, just like real life.

You simply cannot compare this to if he had, say taken his bat in hand and beaten the umpire with it. They are completely different crimes.

I think he should be suspended the rest of the season. I think he will be suspended 15-30 games. Does anyone know if being suspended from this league would keep him from playing in MLB games, were he to get called up late in the year in a desperate attempt to get people to the Devil Rays games?

The bat was tossed underhand with all the force of a little girl throwing a teddy bear. I'll be surprised if he gets more than 15 games.

So the severity of the attack does matter and you think he should get the same punishment that I suggested? :)

Had he beat the umpire with bat in hand, I would assume he would be looking at a lifetime ban from the game and possible prison time.

This is where I am saying that severity doesn't (shouldn't) matter. If you give him a light punishment because he threw with the force of a little girl, the next time (him or someone else) the bat will be thrown with the force of a medium-sized girl, and it will slowly escalate from there until a real punishment is given out. Umpires shouldn't have to worry about their physical safety even a little bit. If the umpires screw up, it should be up to the league to punish them. Players should never touch them.

I don't think he should get the same punishment because you said it. Surprisingly I came up with it on my own.

So you don't think severity should matter, but you think his ban length should be longer if the attack had been more severe?

I think we are talking about different ends of the spectrum. I don't care how hard he threw the bat, or where he intended to hit the umpire. I don't even care if he meant to make a statement by throwing the bat near the umpire and accidentally hit him. Like I said, I have zero tolerance for this kind of thing. Strike an umpire, lose the season.

Your example of the player beating the umpire with the bat takes us from outside the rules of the game to outside the laws of society. Obviously severity will matter once you get to a certain point.

I feel like intent should be a factor in this. Without seeing it, who the heck knows what really happened. He could have been walking away, tossed the bat without looking, and hit the ump who was in a different position than where he was when the player walked away. We just don't know.

The player is at fault, and a minimum 25 game ban should take place - even if what was completely accidental (unless the ref jumped into it...). If it was intentional to throw it in the ref's direction, then it should be a minimum of 3/4 of a season.

He should go to Djibouti for 7 months.

The Devil Rays are really a classless/clueless organization anyways. Some day MLB will wake up and move these guys somewhere, and get them new ownership.

Come on guys...it's not like its a real umpire!!!

but actually, probably the 25-50 games sounds right...maybe closer to 25-30.

here is an interesting tidbit from ESPN.com. Last year he was suspended a few games for bumping chests with a plate umpire. This could go back to intention, and a pattern of behavior. Look for this kid to get a pretty big suspension - I would be surprised if it's under 50 games.

They just showed the video on ESPNEWS, that bat had some velocity.

I have a bit more tolerance for a chest bump since it can be hard to determine intent or even who initiated the contact, but the escalation is disturbing.

Has anyone ever challenged a lifetime ban in the courts to know if it would hold up?

Agreed, and when it hit him and flipped again the umpire almost took the end of the bat in the face while his mask was off. They're about 15-20 feet apart when it happens. He is so gone for the year...

After seeing the video clip, no way should he return this season.

The video can be accessed from the front page of ESPN.com now, if anyone wants to see.

Even though Young is mostly out of camera range when he flips the bat, you can clearly see that he turns his head towards the umpire right as he flips the bat towards him. It's pretty obvious it was intentional.

A full season suspension still seems like too much, considering it's April. That would be essentially equivalent to Ron Artest's suspension, and this wasn't as bad as that. I'd guess 60 games.

Based on the video, I could see justification for a season long ban. More than likely, he will lose 2/3 of the season

Now we're talking.

Finally saw the video.

Apparently he's been "suspended indefinitely," which really needs to become a season ban. As somebody else pointed out, that wasn't a flipped bat that happened to hit the umpire.

That had some velocity on it, and it was targeted. A liner, if you'll pardon me, rather than a can o' corn.

He can say he didn't mean to do it and that he's sorry, but given that it's not his first suspension for improper behavior towards an umpire, and the severity of his actions, he needs to sit for the season.

Dude plays in the Devil Rays system. Hasn't he suffered enough already?

Wow, you're comparing someone who allegedly did something probably over 1/2 of the league has done at some point, and you're going to compare him to someone throwing a bat at an umpire? Geez.

Let's see if the striking umpires union is going to leverage this as much as they can to demonstrate unfair working conditions, even if the target was a scab...

http://ledger.southofboston.com/arti...ews/news08.txt

I didn't realize Dean Houston played baseball...

Now that the video is out, Young is so cooked. 120-days.

I think it's kind of funny how for the rest of his career, he'll be arguing called 3rd strikes of pitches 4 feet over his head.

Nah, no way that regular umps are gonna hold hitting a scab ump against him...

From the SP Times:

A few weeks? Up to a month? Are you fucking kidding me? If that is the best that baseball and the DRays can do, then there's no hope for humanity. :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

He isn't just the D-Rays top prospect, last year he was named the #1 prospect in all of baseball, almost 2 years in a row.. He was the #1 pick in the draft also..

Agreed... dude needs to sit for the rest of the season, and get a little counseling.

They sure kept this guy waiting - but the verdict is finally out. 50 Games

Good. Longer suspension than I was expecting. I was hoping that it would be a year, but figured it would be a lot shorter.

Sounds about right.

Keep railing, but that was never going to happen. Guy is the Rays best (only?) hope for selling tickets in September.

he should be banned

Do you suppose that he'll get the close calls to go in his favor when he gets back?

And the ump rings him up, strike three! That pitch appeared to me to be "just a bit outside" :D

Somewhat interesting point on Mike and Mike this morning--since D. Young's suspension is 50 games and a first offense for testing positive for steroids gets you 50 games... does this mean that throwing a bat at an umpire and getting caught using steroids for the first time are equivalent offenses?

Short answer? YES

This is a shame. I am in one of those complex Keeper Leagues that has a minor league draft and all that. Delmon Young is my number one prospect and pretty much my only minor leaguer of note. Considering how craptacular my team is playing, we could have used him.

Damn youse, Delmon. Damn youse!

As if keeping up with 160 some odd games with injuries, suspensions and matchup problems wasnt enough to keep you busy.

This sounds like torture.

no comments about Bernie Williams throwing his helmet at the umpire last night?

Thank did kind of put this in perspective - if Williams hit the umpire, he'd probably be looking at 50 games too. Whereas if Young had missed, this wouldn't be a story. Better Aim = Longer Suspension.

of course David Ortiz received a 5 game suspension for tossing a bat in the general direction of an umpire a couple years back. I kinda doubt Bernie will even get a fine

Esepcially for someone who really doesn't care all that much or know all that much about baseball. Drafting minor leaguers is quite painful. I have no idea who these guys are. I just go to baseballamerica.com, check the "hot list" and pick the "hottest" prospect not already chosen.

I joined the league for my brother because it's with some of his clients. I stay active enough so I am not a drain on the league, but my team is just pathetic.

I just saw the news of the suspension being only 50 games.

What, is it like darts, where you have to hit closer to the target to get a higher score?

*groan* Bad joke alert :D

SI

I say life-time ban. Hell, there should be criminal charges for this one.

Not a bad way to start your career: 8-11 with 2 2Bs and 1 HR.

I appreciated the White Sox veterans throwing at him for making his stupid ass remarks in the minors.

SI