The ‘Rodol-phone Castro’ controversy stirs talks on social media

By now, you’ve heard that the Pittsburgh Pirates dialed up some controversy in last night’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

In the fourth inning, infielder Rodolfo Castro — who was recalled from Indianapolis before the game — slid into third base on an Oneil Cruz single and had his cell phone slip out of his back pocket, causing unrest both in the highlight reels and on social media.

Derek Shelton said after the game that Castro’s phone mishap was a “general mistake,” and Castro even said that he didn’t remember having his phone on him during the game. And while the Pirates may not take disciplinary action on the young infielder, the MLB might lay the metaphoric hammer down.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweeted shortly before 1 p.m. that Castro violated the league’s electronic device policy:

Personally, I feel that the league would be wasting its time on disciplining Castro for this incident. Did he do something wrong that goes against league policy? Yes. Did it do anything to help boost his or the team’s performance? Not really.

Castro went 0-for-3 with a walk in last night’s 6-4 loss to Arizona, and he saw every bit of Cruz’s single as it landed in shallow left field while he was rounding second.

For more context, the Pirates have one of baseball’s worst records AND Castro is hitting .189 this season. If anything, Castro keeping his phone on him in-game gives him something better to do when in the dugout, which is playing Clash Royale or streaming the egregious AppleTV+ baseball games that they force down our throats.

The commissioner, however, has made plenty of poor decisions during his time at the helm of the MLB, so it wouldn’t completely shock me if he prioritised this incident over something more beneficial, like making life affordable for minor league players.

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