Eli Whiteside managed to avoid injury last night, but Astros’ catcher Humberto Quintero wasn’t so lucky.
Quintero was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained right ankle following a collision with Ryan Roberts at home plate.
Before you ask, no, this wasn’t anything close to the Buster Posey play from Wednesday night. Quintero found himself in a very vulnerable position because he slipped on a bat while waiting for the throw. He was in something of an awkward crouch position, which caused his right ankle to go under his body as soon as Roberts made contact.
Quintero was clearly blocking the plate, so as Roberts told Rowan Kavner of MLB.com, he felt like he had no choice but to barrel into the catcher.
“It was a slow roller and I started running in and he just sat down right in front of the plate,” Roberts said of the play. “I was going to try and go around him, but there was just no way I could have slid around him. You never want to see anyone get hurt in this game, so that wasn’t the point. Again, I’m just trying to score.
“The first thing I thought of was the Buster Posey thing. That’s on everyone’s mind right now so everybody’s talking about it. That’s the first thing I thought about, but like I said, I hope everything is all right and he’ll be back soon. I’m not in this to try to get anybody, just trying to play hard.”
I look forward to not having to talk about this issue anymore, but it’s unfair for us to spend so much time talking about Posey while lesser known players like Quintero are overlooked.
