On Tuesday Night, San Fransico Giants catcher Nick Hundley and Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig decided to smell each other’s breathe and proceeded to exchange some not so nice words. Both benches were cleared, as both bullpens rushed into the field at Dodger Stadium. Hundley was unhappy with Puig’s outburst at home plate and decided to get in his face, adding another chapter in the Californian rivalry.
Giants outfielder Andrew McCutchen was just “in right field, chillin’” when he noticed the shenanigans going down.
Jump ahead to Wednesday morning and McCutchen decided to give his take on the resulting brawl in one of the funnier videos you’ll see from a professional athlete describing grown men trying to slap one another.
“I was in right field chillin’, probably thinking about my last at-bat, how that pitch was outside, they called it a strike, it should’ve been a walk, but we ain’t gonna talk about that right. So I’m looking down at my feet. Next thing I know I hear the fans. I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ So I look up, Puig and Hundley, they going at it. Next thing you know, I feel a breeze, kinda feel like a light tornado just go by me. It’s the bullpen. I’m like dang, my reaction time is WAY off. So I’m like shoot, let me catch up with these people.
“By the time I got there, we was all just chillin’, staring at each other……… Literally I thought about brightening the mood, and I was just gonna give them the karate pose. ‘Come on.’ But I didn’t do it. And that was it.
“That’s basically most brawls, for outfielders anyway. By the time you get there, it’s over, so you just ran and got tired. Being in the outfield during a brawl is equivalent to getting to a little kid showing up to a birthday party late. It’s like you coming in all excited — they already wet and they eating cake. ‘Dang, mom.’ … Let’s just play baseball and not fight.”
Cutch notes that most of the time, brawls are all but over when an outfielder is finally able to run and join in on the fun. The “breeze going by me like a light tornado” is extremely accurate and realistic, as the relief pitchers are usually sprinting in full force to make it in time.
