Late last season, Carlos Santana took a baseball bat to a television in the Philadelphia Philllies clubhouse, and now we know why.
He told Jeff Passan of ESPN that he saw teammates playing the popular video game “Fortnite” inside the clubhouse during the third-to-last game of the season as the Phillies played against the Atlanta Braves.
“I see a couple players — I don’t want to say names — they play video games during the game,” Santana told ESPN. “We come and lose too many games, and I feel like they weren’t worried about it. Weren’t respecting their teammates or coaches or the staff or the [front] office. It’s not my personality. But I’m angry because I want to make it good.”
For what it’s worth, teammate Jake Arrieta also acknowledged that Santana did smash up the television but said it happened “late at night, well after everybody had left,” per Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Arrieta also acknowledged that players did play the game in the clubhouse but didn’t think it happened during a game.
Regardless of exactly how it all went down last year, you won’t be hearing about anything like this taking place in the coming season if Arrieta or Santana have anything to say about it.
“Leadership and accountability has to come from the players,” Arrieta said, per Passan. “The message can be sent from the manager, but it’s up to the group and the leaders within that group to set those standards, the boundaries, the borders, where everyone understands how it is, and if you do this, there are going to be repercussions.”
Hopefully, no further televisions need be smashed in 2019.
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