Mets pitcher Marcus Stroman questioned about taunting the Rockies after a Gold Glove play

The New York Mets were up 2-1 in the 8th inning on Sunday against the Colorado Rockies, and Marcus Stroman is cruising along. He throws a 92 mph fastball to Josh Fuentes that gets hit back up the middle.

Stroman snags the ball behind his back, makes the off balance throw to first and manages to get the out. He, of course, is fired up after this play. He then flashes the gold patch on his glove to his dugout, signifying that he is a great fielder. For context, you get this patch after winning a Gold Glove, which he has won. Him doing this was apparently not universally liked.

Patrick Saunders, a Rockies beat writer for the Denver Post, released an article questioning whether or not he was taunting the Rockies bench after making that sensational play. Stroman responded to the article with this:

Mets pitcher Marcus Stroman made a great defensive play, now he has to defend himself?

This is just one of many examples that point to one major problem in baseball: it’s soft. Football is emotional, basketball is emotional, and yet baseball is not allowed to be for some reason. Baseball is supposed to be this very uptight, clean sport where you just go do your job and don’t make a fuss.

Marcus Stroman is among the many players (Bryce Harper is a notable example) who have been bringing energy and swagger back into the game. They play with passion, and they let that out through their body language, and sometimes their words on the baseball field.

However, for reasons I don’t understand, showing emotion on the field is synonymous with taunting. First of all, if you look at the video, Stroman is very clearly looking at the Mets dugout. If he was looking at the Rockies dugout, then I’d say you have a case for taunting.

Second, if we are going to say that baseball is a fun game, that it’s a kid’s game, then why can’t we act like it? Baseball has this country club mentality, where you can’t make noise and everyone is supposed to act in such a proper manner.

In anything in life, let alone baseball, you do things with passion and you give your all. That’s exactly what these guys are doing. They are showing emotion, passion, intensity, heart, whatever you want to call it.

This is one of the reasons Stroman has the following that he does. He is so relatable with the energy that he plays with. It makes him a guy that is incredibly easy to root for, because you know he’s going to leave it all out on the field every single day.

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To try to make his energy look like taunting is incredibly irresponsible, and sends a bad message to kids who want to play this game. Play with intensity and never let anyone make you feel bad for it. If players get upset about guys showing emotion, that’s their problem.