BALTIMORE – A genuinely contrite Marcus Stroman repeated Tuesday that what seemed like an errant purpose pitch over the head of Caleb Joseph wasn’t intentional, and added that he’d like to speak with the Baltimore Orioles catcher once things calm down.
In the eye of a storm for the wrong reasons, the Toronto Blue Jays rookie right-hander also insisted he would never go head-hunting and admitted that the harsh criticisms levelled at him by Buck Showalter and Joseph concerned him.
"I’ll definitely reach out to (Joseph) at some point," Stroman said. "Obviously, that’s not me. I’ve never thrown at someone’s head before, nor will I ever … That’s not needed in baseball. It’s not respected at all and it shouldn’t be. That was not my intention at all. I’ll apologize to him if I do have the opportunity to talk to him and say, ‘It just got out of hand quickly.’ It sucks, just hearing all this stuff. I’m trying to stay away from it, but it bothers me a lot. It kind of gets to me.
"I know deep down, family, friends, teammates know that’s not me as an individual. So obviously, it’s bothering me a lot lately. Hopefully it blows over, but that’s not the rep that I feel like I portrayed all throughout this year. That’s not who I am."
The controversial pitch came in the sixth inning of Monday’s 5-2 loss and was believed to be in retaliation for a play at the plate in the fifth inning when Jose Reyes felt Joseph may have stepped on his hand after not giving him enough on the plate.
Baseball culture calls for the pitcher to exact retribution by hitting an opponent in the back or lower body, and a player who doesn’t can lose the respect of his teammates. Still, going up and in is a big no-no, a point Blue Jays manager John Gibbons stressed to his pitcher.
"You can’t go at guys’ heads, that’s the bottom line," said Gibbons, refusing to divulge further details on their conversation.
Stroman is likely to avoid league discipline for the incident and the Orioles have bigger concerns at the moment than in seeking vengeance, so things are unlikely to escalate between the clubs.
"If you look at our team this year, I would venture to say we’ve had less problems with other teams than any team in baseball," Gibbons said. "That’s probably fair to say. So we’re not a trouble-making team."
Stroman doesn’t want to change that reputation, either for the team or himself, saying, "To Caleb, it was honestly the last thing I was trying to do, just kind of the emotion of the game and everything."
And for those who believe he’s a head-hunter?
"That’s the last thing I want, to have a reputation like that," he said. "I just hope the camaraderie I’ve built with the guys on my team and people who have gotten the chance to know me know that I’m not that type of individual. Yeah I’m a young guy, you don’t want to get that rep, people who have interacted with me know that’s not my intention at all. Someone who hasn’t interacted with me and just sees that is going to assume the worst, but that’s not me."
