After belting 34 homers and driving in 99 runs for the Cincinnati Reds last season, outfielder Jay Bruce is off to somewhat of a slow start in 2013. His batting average of .252 is right about where you would expect (he is a career .255 hitter), but his power numbers in April were lacking. Through 28 games, the 26-year-old has only one homer and 11 RBI.
Naturally, fans have been critical of Bruce while he has struggled. The Reds are only a game out of first with a ton of baseball left to play, but a Twitter rant on Tuesday night indicated the fans are already starting to irritate Bruce.
I appreciate all the tweets, good and bad, actually. You guys are what drive the game. I’m obviously not hitting as well as I’d like to, yet
— Jay Bruce (@JayABruce) May 1, 2013
….I actually feel sorry for the people on here who feel that it’s necessary to try and put me down on twitter. It really just explains…
— Jay Bruce (@JayABruce) May 1, 2013
Further who you are, and there are obviously things in your life that you’re unhappy about and you take it out on me via twitter…I suggest
— Jay Bruce (@JayABruce) May 1, 2013
you look into talking with a life coach or something to help you get over whatever you have going on in your life. There is obviously a….
— Jay Bruce (@JayABruce) May 1, 2013
lack of something going on, and I hope you guys get it straightened out, because you all sound like idiots Everyone have a good night. Haha
— Jay Bruce (@JayABruce) May 1, 2013
It sounds like somebody needs to take some advice from their All-Star teammate when it comes to dealing with Twitter. By wasting a five-tweet rant on his critics, Bruce is simply letting them win. A hitting slump can be frustrating and Twitter can make it worse, but responding to the critics only validates what they are attempting to do. In his sixth year in the majors, Bruce should be well aware of that.
H/T Hardball Talk
