Not entirely unlike Josh Hader, young Braves pitcher Sean Newcomb went from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows in the matter of seconds.
Newcomb was within a strike of no-hitting the Dodgers yesterday – Chris Taylor broke it up – and then immediately upon exiting the game, horrible old tweets of his surfaced. The Braves had to respond:
Statement from the Atlanta Braves regarding Sean Newcomb: pic.twitter.com/T9kP9TF5d1
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) July 29, 2018
Then, in response to the Newcomb revelation, some Braves fans went digging in on Nationals players, found similarly inexcusable and offensive tweets by Trea Turner. And then the Nationals had to respond:
Statement from Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo: pic.twitter.com/mqFa24aix2
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) July 30, 2018
It’s madness to me that these tweets are still out there at all, but I don’t want to miss the point: even in the modern era, casually racist, misogynistic, and homophobic chatter goes on in public spaces. It makes you wonder what goes on behind closed doors, and it also makes you wonder where young people – all of these guys were teenagers when they made their tweets – are developing these attitudes. It’s unacceptable.
Meanwhile, some veteran big leaguers weighed in, each with a key message: don’t say horrible and stupid things in the first place. Problem solved.
If you’re on Twitter, please spend the 5 minutes it takes to scrub your account of anything you wouldn’t want plastered next to your face on the front page of a newspaper. Better yet, don’t say stupid things in the first place. Too many young guys getting burned. #themoreyouknow
— Jon Lester (@JLester34) July 30, 2018
There is SO much upside. If you follow the fundamental rule of "am I ok talking about this tweet with a TV camera in my face?" social media can be wonderful for athletes. https://t.co/31B6eqFgyE
— Brandon McCarthy (@BMcCarthy32) July 30, 2018