Feeling frustrated and helpless at the plate, Andrew McCutchen believed Sunday night he had no other choice but to do something totally out of character.
When umpire Chris Conroy called strike three on a pitch that appeared to be well below the strike zone, McCutchen hurled his bat to the ground. He pointed and shouted at Conroy.
And for the first time in 4,824 plate appearances over his eight-year major league career, McCutchen was ejected.
“I was like, I've had it,” McCutchen told the Tribune-Review on Monday. “I'm sick of being the quiet guy. I'm sick of being the guy who people say, ‘Oh, he's a really nice guy.' Jesus was a nice guy, too, but he went into the tabernacle and flipped tables. He could get angry.
“So it's OK to be frustrated. It's OK to be angry. We have feelings, frustrations and emotions. We all want to be treated equally and the right way. If you don't feel you've been treated that way, sometimes you need to show it.”
McCutchen's blowup was not merely the result of one poor strike call. It was fueled by iffy calls earlier in the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers and by many others this season that have him on course for a career-worst strikeout total.
“They're taking the bat out of my hands,” McCutchen said.
McCutchen believes the strike zone has gotten away from some umpires and that batters throughout the majors are paying the price. He wants tougher penalties to steer the umps toward better performance.
“All I ask is for fairness when I'm out there,” McCutchen said. “I'm not asking for perfection. I'm just asking for fairness. No one's going to be perfect. I get that. That's why I snapped. What happened was not fair.”
In the fifth inning, McCutchen gave Conroy a hard look after taking a called strike three from Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw.
“It's Kershaw,” McCutchen said. “He's going to make some borderline pitches, and a lot of calls are going to go his way. I let that one go because they were good pitches. They could've gone either way, and of course, they're going to go his way.”
In the seventh inning, reliever Casey Fien's first pitch was low and ruled a strike
“I tried my best not to look at (Conroy),” McCutchen said. “I just told him, ‘Get the ball up.' That's all I asked, and I felt that was good enough. He didn't. I felt, right then, I had to voice my opinion. Was I right? I don't know. But that's how I felt.”
With 81 strikeouts through 77 games, McCutchen is on pace for 170 this season. That would be 37 more than his career high.
“He has had more than his fair share of called strikes that were not strikes,” manager Clint Hurdle said.
Through Sunday, Trevor Story led the National League with 104 strikeouts. Chris Carter (95), Giancarlo Stanton (91) and Eugenio Suarez (83) also had more than McCutchen.
Last season, Kris Bryant's 199 whiffs were the most in the NL and the most since Drew Stubbs struck out 205 times in 2011.
“Why do you think the strikeouts have skyrocketed?” McCutchen said. “Everyone wants to look at the pitcher and the (batter), but there are three in this game. You have to add (the umpire) in there. That's the frustrating part.”
McCutchen said batters go to the plate expecting down-and-away pitches that are out of the zone to be called strikes. Pitchers know this and exploit it.
“Pitching is not getting worse. It's getting better,” McCutchen said. “Some rotations, the top four starters are all throwing 95-plus mph. That's baseball now. If that's how it's evolving, but the strike zone is where it's at, how do you expect us as hitters to be able to succeed?”
Sunday's game was televised nationally by ESPN. Replays showed the called strike that led to McCutchen's ejection was not in the zone.
McCutchen doesn't support the notion of using robot umpires and suggested there are other changes that can be made.
“People always preach accountability,” McCutchen said. “If we (stink), we sit on the bench. We get sent to Triple-A, we get designated (for assignment). We get released if we underperform. We're held accountable for our actions on the field. We make a paycheck for our performance.”
Umpires can be passed over for plum assignments to the All-Star Game and postseason if their work is deemed subpar. Is that enough?
McCutchen shrugged.
“There needs to be something that makes (an umpire) go, ‘I'm going to lock in and do the best that I can possibly do out there,' ” he said. “Whatever makes them say, ‘I don't want to miss. I want to be as perfect as I can possibly be.' Whatever it takes, that's what needs to happen.”
McCutchen likely will be fined by MLB for his outburst. He's fortunate his bat didn't bounce up and hit Conroy; that would have merited a suspension.
The Pirates have contacted the commissioner's office and sent video evidence about Conroy's questionable calls. It's not the first time they have done that this year.
“I do believe in the process, and I believe conversations are held accordingly,” Hurdle said. “What that entails is left up to those guys who are in charge. I have had a couple of situations where, after a phone call, the umpire has come and spoken to me about what's on the table. Where it goes from there, I'm not so sure.”
Rob Biertempfel is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at rbiertempfel@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BiertempfelTrib.
