Manny Machado apologized Monday for his actions during his at-bat Sunday against the Oakland A’s where he threw his bat down the third base line in response to being thrown at.
“I want to apologize to all my teammates, my coaching staff, the entire Orioles organization, and Oakland and to my fans for the way I acted,” said Machado, who is facing a suspension from the league. “That’s not the way we play baseball around here.”
Some A’s players ripped him for his disrespectful behavior, including John Jaso and Derek Norris. Norris was knocked out of the game after being hit in the head by one of Machado’s backswings in the sixth. Machado specifically apologized to Norris.
[Watch: Manny Machado tosses bat towards third base after being thrown at]
“I want to apologize to Derek (Norris). That wasn’t intentional. I didn’t realize how hard I had hit him with the bat. I have a tough follow-through, pretty long follow-through. I didn’t really think he would have cared about whether I showed emotion for him. So I want to apologize for taking him out of the game.”
Machado denied speculation that he was angry because the A’s threw at his knee, which was injured last season. He said his anger didn’t have anything to do with his knee being targeted. As for the tag incident with Josh Donaldson on Friday night, Machado said he thought it “was a little aggressive.”
Below is video of Norris getting hurt. It appears to be completely unintentional:
Machado’s apology seemed sincere and genuine. I think the A’s should be satisfied with it, as should baseball fans. He’s a young kid and admitted where he was wrong.
