MLB Announces Punishment for Pirates Infielder’s Cell Phone Incident

Major League Baseball has issued a one-game suspension on Pirates infielder Rodolfo Castro following an incident in which Castro took the field with a cell phone in his pocket. The phone fell out of his back pocket and onto the field as he slid into third base during an Aug. 9 game against the Diamondbacks.

Castro is appealing the suspension, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

Castro was immediately apologetic after the game, telling reporters that the situation was the result of a simple mistake.

“I don’t think there’s any professional ballplayer that would ever go out there with any intentions of taking a cellphone,” Castro told Pittsburgh media members through an interpreter, per the Associated Press. “It’s horrible it happened to me. Obviously, it was very unintentional.”

The 23-year-old signed with the Pirates as an international free agent from the Dominican Republic in 2015. He debuted last season and has a career .749 OPS in the minor leagues. In 27 games with Pittsburgh this year, he’s batting .239/.300/.402, with two home runs and two stolen bases.

His appearance with the Pirates on Aug. 9 was his first since being recalled from Triple A, adding to his frustration with what transpired.

“My first day back, if I was to be the center of attention, I would want it to be helping the team win, but never in this form,” Castro said, per to AP. “This is definitely something that was an accident, a mistake, something I’m going to learn from. But definitely something I didn’t mean to happen.”

Daily Cover: Inside the ‘Special Relationship’ Between a Commissioner and a Legend