Willson Contreras fought back tears as he publicly apologized for his role in a turbulent week that included two bench-clearing incidents.
These incidents led to multiple ejections and a seven-game suspension from Major League Baseball.
Speaking to the media before the Red Sox’s 8-1 win over the Angels on Saturday, Contreras said he felt it was important to take responsibility for his actions, even though his suspension was still under appeal.
“One thing I want to add, on the record, is an apology for all of the events from last week,” Contreras said through an interpreter. “All of the things that occurred with the Nationals and Yankees are very hard. It was a very emotional time for me.”
The veteran first baseman added, “People won’t understand why I’m apologizing now, but I think it’s something that’s important for me to do because I feel that it was an emotional time and those situations could have been avoided and controlled and handled better.”
Contreras’ statement came after a week in which he repeatedly found himself involved in the middle of on-field confrontations.
The first incident occurred during Boston’s weekend series against the Yankees.
After exchanging words with Yankees starter Will Warren following an inside pitch, Contreras flipped his bat, and both benches emptied.
Two days later, we had another incident involving the Nationals, when right-hander Cade Cavalli struck him out looking in the fourth inning, and television cameras captured Cavalli yelling, “Sit down, boy.”
Contreras immediately turned back toward the mound after hearing the racially charged insult, and the confrontation quickly escalated into another benches-clearing incident.
Contreras threw his helmet in Cavalli’s direction before he was ultimately restrained.
For his troubles, he was ejected from the game, as well as Cavalli, who also received a seven-game suspension.
Cavalli apologized the following day, saying he never intended his words to carry racial meaning and acknowledging the historical significance of the phrase.
“I’m extremely torn up about the way that things were perceived,” he said. “Obviously, there was no ill intention behind that.
“My teammates know me, my family knows me, this organization knows me. I couldn’t sleep because of it. It hurt my heart, knowing that if there’s a 13-year-old Black kid in D.C. that sees that — that looked up to me and thinks that he perceived it in a way that wasn’t intended the way that it came out, and then he’s not looking up to me anymore — that hurts my heart.”
Contreras acknowledged how difficult the past several days had been.
“It’s been a really tough week, an emotional week for me,” he said. “I hope that people understand how emotional it’s been. I’ll prove myself with my actions on the field moving forward and show them the kind of person that I truly am.”
The Venezuelan slugger has previously spoken about the emotional toll of devastating earthquakes in his home country, suggesting the tragedy had weighed heavily on him while he continued to play.
Contreras homered in the Red Sox’s Fourth of July victory. Despite the distractions, he has been one of Boston’s most productive hitters this season.
He entered Sunday batting .285 with 19 home runs and 56 RBIs with a .914 OPS.
The three-time All-Star most notably starred on the Cubs from 2016-2022 and started at catcher during the team’s curse-breaking 2016 World Series title.
