Baseball is a high-pressure sport and sometimes players have reactions that reflect that. The latest incident was with Chris Sale after his final rehab start on Wednesday in Worcester. A video went viral of Sale taking his frustrations out on a television after walking a batter with the bases loaded.
“One of these guys, I don’t know who it was, may have been myself, had a poor inning, came in, had a little temper tantrum, a full diaper, and threw a water bottle and it hit – I was throwing it towards the garbage can, because I wanted it to go in the garbage can, hit the top of the garbage can, skipped into the bathroom and hit the mirror.”
Hill is having a decent season for the Sox. He's 4-4 with a 4.20 ERA and 1.29 WHIP through 15 starts. The veteran lefthander spent many years in the National League as well with the Dodgers, Cubs, and Mets.
“There’s been plenty of birdhouses that have been built out of guys’ bats, specifically my own in the National League,” Hill continued.
Hill has had his fair share of frustrating outings and has seen a wide variety of reactions. He understood where Sale was coming from and explained that it’s just what happens sometimes when playing on the big stage.
“There’s a lot of high stakes. People say ‘Oh, well you need to have more self-control.’ OK, there is that self-control but there’s also that intensity that builds up. We all want to do better and it’s just something that is extremely frustrating when we don’t,” Hill said.
“We hold ourselves to a really really really high standard. Now does that mean you have to go and break something? No, but it does kind of alleviate some of the steam that needs to be let off.”
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