Cole Carrigg benched by Colorado Rockies after video shows him flipping off Braves fans at Truist Park
Colorado Rockies rookie center fielder Cole Carrigg is out of the starting lineup for at least a couple of days after footage from Saturday's 2-1 loss at Truist Park caught him directing an obscene gesture toward Braves…
Key takeaways
- Colorado Rockies rookie center fielder Cole Carrigg was benched after video from Saturday's 2-1 loss at Truist Park showed him making an obscene gesture toward Braves fans.
- The incident occurred when Carrigg dived for a fly ball off Michael Harris II's bat, came up short, and the misplay became a two-run double that gave Atlanta the lead.
- Manager Warren Schaeffer called the gesture an embarrassment to the organization and said this kind of response to fans will not be tolerated.
- Carrigg apologized to his teammates and the organization, calling the gesture inexcusable.
- Schaeffer held Carrigg out of Sunday's starting lineup, but the rookie still entered the finale as a pinch hitter, going 0-for-2 with a strikeout before playing center field and shortstop.
Colorado Rockies rookie center fielder Cole Carrigg is out of the starting lineup for at least a couple of days after footage from Saturday's 2-1 loss at Truist Park caught him directing an obscene gesture toward Braves fans. The moment came with the Rockies holding a 1-0 lead. Carrigg dived for a fly ball off Michael Harris II's bat, came up short, and the misplay went for a two-run double that handed Atlanta the lead. The crowd let him hear it. He flipped the bird toward the stands, and the video caught all of it.
Manager Warren Schaeffer addressed it directly. "Cole made a mistake, and he knows that is an embarrassment to the organization and that we don't stand for that," Schaeffer said, adding that everyone makes mistakes and that this was one Carrigg needed to learn from. He made the club's position plain: this kind of response to fans will not be tolerated.
Carrigg did not deflect. He apologized to his teammates and the organization, called the gesture inexcusable, then framed it in the context of how he plays the game. He described himself as someone who goes at 110 percent every night and said he felt the missed catch was one that could or could not have changed the outcome. "Braves fans are pretty passionate themselves. Kudos to them. But that gesture can't happen," he said.
The benching carried an immediate practical consequence but also a limited one. Schaeffer held Carrigg out of Sunday's starting lineup, though the rookie entered the series finale as a pinch hitter. He went 0-for-2 with a strikeout before staying in the game at center field and shortstop, a detail that signals the discipline is measured rather than open-ended.
What to watch
Schaeffer's language was calibrated: a couple of days, a mistake to learn from, no hard public end date attached. Carrigg's statement showed more self-awareness than the usual canned response. The thing to track is whether the benching extends past what the manager outlined, which would tell you more about how the front office views the incident beyond what was said at the podium.
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Filed via foxnews.com