That didn’t take long.
Less than 24 hours after showing up Giants manager Gabe Kapler on the mound, reliever Zack Littell was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento for southpaw Thomas Szapucki.
You could argue that Littlell merited a demotion based on Monday’s appearance and his 2022 struggles alone, but the outburst surely didn’t help.
"What happened there was surely out of self-frustration in my performance," Littell said. "It came out in a disrespectful way towards him. Obviously, that was not my intention. … I just said that that I wanted (to face Matt) Olson. Not that I pitched well enough to deserve that at all. I think any guy out there would wanna finish an inning that they started. That’s all it was.”
Littell gave up two runs on three hits and a walk in the eighth inning of the tense 3-2 victory, but wanted to close out the frame. He shook his head as Kapler approached the mound for a pitching change, punched the ball in his manager’s hand with gusto, exchanged some words and the two glared at each other as he walked back to the dugout. Afterwards, Kapler called Littlell down the dugout steps for a private chat. Littell went to Kapler’s office to apologize after the game.
“There’s obviously a way to do that,” Kapler said. “Zack knows that. We discussed that and he knows that, when I come out to get the ball, he just needs to put the ball in my hand and we’ll talk about anything later.”
The Braves’ rally was also aided when catcher Austin Wynns couldn’t corral a perfect throw from outfielder Lewis Brinson on a play at the plate. Littell insisted that didn’t have a bearing on his frustration.
“If I don’t want him to score, I shouldn’t have let him on,” Littell said. “Baseball’s hard. Guys are doing their best.”
Littell’s bad outing pushed his ERA to 5.08 this season after he had a sparkling 2021 campaign, when he compiled a 2.92 ERA in 63 appearances. Like many of his Giants teammates, he hasn’t been able to replicate his success from 2022.
The poor performance from Littell is a big part of the deal, for sure, but you have to imagine the Kapler and the Giants are drawing a line in the sand when it comes to player-coach etiquette.
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