We have a new wrinkle in the Will Smith, Marcell Ozuna drama from Monday night, and it just continues to make Ozuna look worse.
For context, on Monday night, Ozuna clocked Will Smith on the side of the head with his backswing, something he’s done multiple times before to Smith and other catchers in the MLB.
Smith immediately had some words to share with Ozuna because, you know, he smacked him in the head with his bat for the fifth time, according to Smith.
Ozuna didn’t apologize to Smith in the moment, but it did get a little heated. However, on Tuesday, he was asked about it again, and had a chance to apologize and move on. Instead, for some reason, he decided to double down.
Ozuna told reporters that he didn’t mean to hit Smith, and suggested that the Dodgers catch just back up when he comes up to the plate.
No apology. No responsibility taken. Instead, he just told Smith to back up to not get hit with his bat.
I don’t want to get into how disturbing of a response that is from Ozuna, but I think it’s very easy to side with Smith regarding this issue.
For even more context on the situation, Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes was asked about it, and said he’s also been clipped by Ozuna’s backswing before. He told Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic that some players have longer backswings and like to warn the catchers before stepping into the box — but clearly, Ozuna doesn’t feel the need to do that.
Whatever the case, we can hope that Smith is okay, and that he doesn’t get clocked by another Ozuna swing today, especially considering he’s just a month removed from a concussion that sidelined him for two weeks.
Moreover, though, I think the MLB really has to look into this and have some sort of punishment for a batter doing something like this. If a batter gets to go to first base when a catcher’s glove gets in his way on the swing, maybe the batter should be out when he clocks a catcher with his bat at the end of the swing. But that’s neither here not there.
At the very least, Ozuna could have and should have just apologized to Smith. I don’t think he would like it if someone hit him with a baseball bat on the side of his head.
Have you subscribed to our YouTube Channel yet? Subscribe and hit that notification bell to stay up to date on all the latest Dodgers news, rumors, interviews, live streams, and more!
