PITTSBURGH — Pirates general manager Ben Cherington, on his radio show with 93.7 The Fan on Sunday, was asked about a potential suspension being served to infielder Rodolfo Castro after his infamous cellphone incident in Arizona last week.
Cherington basically brushed it off. Castro, the Pirates and even the umpires from that game against the Diamondbacks, all believed Castro made an honest mistake. Because they hadn’t heard anything regarding a potential suspension within a week of the incident, they believed Castro was in the clear. Multiple Pirates officials told the Post-Gazette off the record they didn’t expect to hear anything from the league.
As it turns out, they were wrong. The league issued a one-game suspension and a fine to Castro.
“I truly respect MLB’s decision,” Castro said through team interpreter Mike Gonzalez. “Like I mentioned [last week], none of this was intentional. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I hate that it continues, but I truly do respect the decision MLB made.”
Castro, however, has decided to appeal the ruling from MLB, and while that appeal is ongoing, Castro will be allowed to play for the Pirates. He said immediately after that game, when his phone slipped out of his pocket as he was sliding headfirst into third base, he had made a mistake. He’d forgotten his phone was in his back pocket and had put his sliding mitt over top of it. He keeps the sliding mitt in his pants throughout the game, and because he hadn’t been on base earlier in the game, he hadn’t felt his phone.
With that, he plans to appeal, to further assert he wasn’t trying to pull anything sneaky with an electronic device on the field.
“I do know that it was a mistake. It’s something I wasn’t even really conscious of. It’s something I truly didn’t intend to happen. Mostly, more than anything, I just want MLB to hear my version of the story and make sure they understand the heart behind everything.”
What has been interesting is Castro has played well since returning from Triple-A Indianapolis last Tuesday. In six games, he’s gone 8 for 21 (.381), with two triples, a double and a homer off San Francisco Giants ace Carlos Rodon.
Unfortunately for him, his phone gaffe keeps popping up as the main story around his game. With Tuesday’s news, that appears likely to continue for the near future.
