First and foremost, Alex Bregman of the Houston Astros is a phenomenal talent. Equally important, he might win his first MVP award over Mike Trout in a few weeks. Therefore, without being as talented as he is; we aren’t writing about him at all in this spot.
However – in last night’s wild World Series game six – Bregman homered off Stephen Strasburg in the bottom of the first inning to give Houston a 2-1 lead. Bregman carried the bat down the first base line and handed it to first base coach Don Kelly.
Obviously, it looked foolish and was a case of a young player not correctly being able to handle his emotions. Furthermore, this has been pattern behavior from Bregman. Whether it was in the concluding moments of World Series game five against the Los Angeles Dodgers or being a hothead discussing politics on social media, Bregman’s abundance of poor choices seem to match his athletic ability.
This dude @ABREG_1 really carried the bat to 1st base.
Legend. pic.twitter.com/TQqhfSVjUq
— Cut4 (@Cut4) October 30, 2019
Now, Bregman is sorry about what he did. It probably didn’t help that the Astros lost the game 7-2 and Strasburg didn’t allow another run. Here’s what he has to say regarding his running the bases carrying the bat, something I had not seen in 30 years watching baseball.
“I just let my emotions get the best of me,” he said. “It’s not how I was raised to play the game. I just let my emotions get the best of me and … yeah, I’m sorry for doing that.”
To make matters worse, Juan Soto later homered off Justin Verlander to give the Nationals the lead. Since turn about is fair play, Soto did the same thing in retaliation; carrying the bat. He would later say that he thought it looked cool when Bregman did it.
Finally, it’s just a bad look for the sport on the grandest of stages. While it’s fine to display a little flair and get fans excited, there’s also a line you cross. Bregman didn’t walk to the line without stepping over, he sprinted past it.
You can appreciate the young man’s talent and still realize he is a player that has trouble handling his emotions. Surely, every person is different; but any number of other superstars just put their head down and run that home run like they have hit many before. Just like Bregman should have in that situation, as not to show up the pitcher and worthy opposing team.
