If you read this blog, you’ve probably already seen Manny Machado’s antics from this past weekend. If not, allow me to entertain you for a moment.
This was from Friday night.
Then Sunday afternoon, this happened.
Manny Machado is immature. In both these situations he acted like a child instead of a professional baseball player. Friday night he was completely obnoxious. Anyone, and I MEAN ANYONE, who think Machado is even 1% right can get the hell out of my face. In the moment, when a player is deliberately trying to avoid a tag, if you reach a little further and catch him in the gut, so be it. Machado’s reaction, throwing his helmet in the general vicinity of Josh Donaldson, was childish. To get up in his face and talk shit and then to complain about it after the game is immature.
Then Sunday happened. In the unwritten rules of baseball (something I’ll never understand or 100% agree with) if you piss a team off or go after them, they will retaliate. Sunday afternoon, during an Athletics’ romp of the O’s, Fernando Abad threw inside on Machado. I mean real inside, BUT he didn’t hit him. Machado was pissed and voiced his opinion while staring down Abad. I’m cool with that, but then Abad threw inside again (but didn’t hit him) and Machado decided his best bet was to fling his bat into the field of play. Like a 5-year-old that didn’t get his way and didn’t like how people were treating him, Machado reacted inappropriately. I get Machado being mad, but he didn’t get hit and he deliberately tried to injure someone.
Someone in the Orioles clubhouse needs to calm their young superstar down, because in about 2-3 years, Machado will be the Orioles. He’s potentially the best shortstop in the game. A guy who can field and hit with the best in the league. I even questioned whether he was a better bet than Mike Trout and Bryce Harper before his gruesome injury ended his 2013 season. The veterans in the dugout need to right this ship before something bad happens and Machado finds himself suspended for an extended period of time (though I think he should be suspended for his actions this weekend.)
It’s hopefully just an unfortunate blip at the beginning of a Hall of Fame career for a really good young player. He’s still just 20 years old and still probably not ready to handle the day in and day out grind and ups and downs of being a professional athlete. I saw Manny at an event prior to last year where the Orioles celebrated their success in 2012. He was 19 at the time, didn’t really speak English and looked completely out of place in a sea of grownups. He’s going to need some guidance through this and other situations that arise throughout his career and I hope one of the established veterans of the team, Chris Davis, Adam Jones, Nick Markakis pulled him aside last night and explained to him that while he may be angry, he can’t let things like Friday night or a brush back pitch get the best of him. Because tomorrow, and the next day and the day after that, he’ll need to step into that batters box and compete at the highest level.
Time to grow up Manny.